Roles Reversed
by Acallaris
Summary: What if things during the Conquest Ending were different? What would happen if someone took their own life instead of taking the life of someone important to them? Many years have passed since the Deity of Sin was defeated, and the whole world has been left in an Apocalyptic state, with the only survivor being a former CPU of Planeptune... at least that's what she thought.
1. Roles Reversed

**Disclaimer: Hyperdimension Neptunia rightfully belongs to IF (Idea Factory) and Compa (Compile Heart). Please go and support the official release.**

Chaos….Chaos was the only thing for miles on end. For countless miles, the screams of innocent civilians getting slaughtered by evil forces could be heard. These were coming from the screams of citizens who had officially lost all hope for humanity.

The four nations: Lastation, Lowee, Leanbox, and Planeptune were all on the brink of destruction. The Deity of Sin had been awoken and was destroying all of Gameindustri. The Goddesses of the first three nations, along with the Candidates were nowhere to be found. This was because of one thing….one weapon in particular: Gehaburn.

Far off from the four nations, was a meadow. The sky was slowly starting to change from its warm orange color, to a gloomy purple one. Two figures stood in the meadow, one wore a black and white hoodie with matching stockings and shoes, they also wore two black D-Clips in their hair.

Another figure wore a black dress that had a similar look to a Japanese school uniform. They wore a blue neckerchief around their neck with a white ascot that had a "N" symbol on it. They wore pink and white striped stockings, but wore shoes that matched with the rest of their attire. They also had a D-Clip in their hair.

In the hands of the person mentioned above, they held a sword that radiated a holy power. This was the cursed sword known as Gehaburn, it uses the power of a Goddess to turn into an even stronger sword.

"Nepugia, you have to do this…" The person who stood on the far end side of the meadow said, they wore a sad expression on their face, "it's the only way to stop the Deity of Sin from destroying this continent!"

Nepugia tightened her grip on Gehaburn and looked down at her feet. She wore a soulless expression on her face, this could be seen in her eyes. "But Neptune…I don't want to kill you." Nepugia spoke, her voice immediately broke, "I can't bring myself to even raise a weapon toward you…"

"You gotta do it Gia, there's no turning back now!" Neptune said, "all of our friends are already gone…even Histy left us…"

Memories of her friends soon started flood Nepugia's head, she could see the faces they gave her when she had raised the sword. They were faces of pure terror.

"Trust me Gia, you'll be able to live happily when this is all ov-"

"HOW WOULD I BE ABLE TO LIVE HAPPILY?!" Nepugia raised her voice, "I JUST KILLED ALL MY FRIENDS AND NOW I'M GOING TO HAVE TO KILL THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT!"

Neptune wasn't even surprised that her sister had suddenly raised her voice, she had realized what she said did not come out the way she wanted it be. "…Gia…Remember that promise we made when you were really little?"

Nepugia slowly raised her head, she looked at her older sister with widened eyes. "N-no…y-you don't mean-" Nepugia's lip quivered uncontrollably

Neptune shook her head. "Gia, we both swore to each other that if a situation where we had to give our lives to one another, were to ever happen…we would do it without any questions."

Nepugia tightened her grip on Gehaburn even more, she began to dig her feet into the ground. "Nepugia, you don't wanna break that promise don't you?" Neptune asked, "a promise that we swore we would never break?"

"…" The Gehaburn started to radiate a violet aura, this aura soon started to surround Nepugia, who eventually looked up at Neptune and slowly took a few steps towards her, "No…No I don't…"

"That's a good gir-"

"But…I'm sorry…" Nepugia said before turning the sword to her, it pointed to her chest.

"Wait! Gia!" Neptune sprinted over to her sister to stop her from doing the inevitable, "you can't-"

But it was already too late, by the time Neptune had reached her sister, Nepugia had thrusted the sword into her chest. Blood began to spew all over Neptune, soaking her and her clothing in the blood of her little sister.

Neptune and Nepugia stood still for a moment before Nepugia began to fall over. Neptune quickly caught her. "G…Gia?" Neptune said in a broken voice, "W-why?...Just why?"

"Because…I wanted to be free of all of this guilt, big sis…" Nepugia responded, "It was eating me up every second, day and night…I couldn't take it any more."

"Gia, you can't leave like this!" Neptune said, "this was supposed to be me on the floor spewing out water like a chocolate fountain, not you!"

"Don't be sad sis…" Nepugia raised her hand up to Neptune's cheek for a moments, "I'm finally happy now…I can see all my friends again…you've always wanted me to be happy…now I am."

"Gia?" Neptune's voice had already broke, Gia smiled at her sister before her hand fell to the ground. "Sis…can you do me a favor?" Gia asked.

Neptune immediately shook her head. "Could you…live out the rest of your days just for me?" Nepugia asked, "Could you experience things that both you and I wish to have experienced?"

Neptune shook her once again. "Thank…you…" Nepugia said, "Sis…could you come…closer?"

Neptune move her face bit closer to Nepugia. Neptune didn't expect however for Nepugia to kiss her on the cheek. Neptune looked her sister while blushing. "Thank you for everything Neptune…" Nepugia said, "Your…You're the-"

Nepugia's words were interrupted when she suddenly exploded into pixels, without any sign before hand. Neptune was still in the position in which she was holding up her sister in, except this time her sister was nowhere to be found.

"Nepu…g-gia!" Neptune couldn't contain herself, she began to sob until she could hear the footsteps of a monster heading her way.

Neptune tried wiping away the tears but didn't succeed. Neptune looked up to see what was coming her way, but she was blinded by tears. Finally after some time, Neptune made out the monster as the Deity of Sin which was extremely close to her.

Neptune looked down at the ground and saw the Gehaburn, the sword was completely lit up and radiated a dark purple glow. Neptune picked up Gehaburn in one hand and summoned another blade in the opposite.

"You…YOU'RE THE REASON WHY THIS ALL HAPPENED!" Neptune was boiling with anger, "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" The Deity of Sin roared in response. Neptune then charged for the Deity of Sin, while letting fate decide what happens next.

* * *

 **(5 years later…)**

In a small area not far off from Gameindustri Fields, there was a small shrine that seemed to be pretty polished. In the shrine was a grave, on the grave was a purple power symbol. In front of the grave was a picture of Nepugia that was in a frame.

The sound of footsteps could be heard throughout the whole shrine. A woman walked into the shrine. She had long lilac-purple hair and regular purple eyes. She wore a black and purple hoodie with matching shoes, and had two black D-clips in her hair.

"Heya Gia!" Adult Neptune happily skipped into the shrine, "Sorry I couldn't visit ya last week, lots of crazy stuff has been happening and you wouldn't believe the things that I tell you!"

Adult Neptune approached the grave before sitting down and letting out a massive sigh. "Man, walking is so much better than flying everywhere!" Adult Neptune said, "I mean look at me! I got a figure that no man could resist!"

Neptune already knew that nothing was going to happen with the grave, but this didn't stop her from talking. "Ooh! Guess what? I found a person!" Adult Neptune said, "he says his name his Trenton Teriyaki or something, but I just call him T for short!"

Neptune placed her hand against her chest. "Nepugia? This man is the sweetest, kindest, sort of oblivious men in the face of Gameindustri. I really wish you could mee-" Adult Nep then snapped her fingers, "Ooh! I know! I can bring him to the shrine one of these days and I can introduce you to him, it's going to be great I promise!"

There was a long pause after what Neptune had said. Her face of happiness soon turned into one of sadness. "You know…I don't mind T being around, but… I want someone I can actually talk to without getting lost in their eyes every five seconds, ya know?"

There was another long pause before Neptune shook herself out of her trance. "Sorry about that Gia, I must've gotten carried away during my thoughts. Guess I should be going now." Adult Nep got up before snapping her fingers, "right! I found something while going through the rubble of the Basilicom. Here you go!"

Neptune took a device out of her pocket and leaned it against the grave. The device had the letters,"N-Gear", written on it. Adult Nep smiled before turning her back. "Anyways, guess I'll be going now!" Adult Neptune raised her left hand and gave her sister a peace sign, "See you later…baby sis."


	2. Chapter 1

"Eyes filled...with secret devotion...brought out the light...from inside the...the… *snore*"

A young woman, who was currently wrapped up in a blanket, was fast asleep in her bed. This young woman was also talking… Well, more along the lines of singing while asleep as well.

Her room seemed pretty small, there wasn't much room for furniture. The only things in the room were a bed, a vanity dresser, and a single wooden chair. There was also a closet, but it was only big enough to fit 4 or 5 outfits.

"Hand reaching...the future… I was hurt but have nothing...to fear now…"

The young sleeping woman appeared to have long lilac purple hair with messy bangs. Her skin complexion seemed to be on the line in between light and pale.

"...Hm?"

The sleeping girl was now starting to stir. She lifted her head off of her soft pillow and opened her purple eyes. She looked around the room for a minute.

"Ah, gee… Did I sleep in again?" The girl yawned. "Wait...I sleep in everyday…"

The young woman moved the blanket off of her, revealing that she was in her underwear. Both articles of underwear were blue and white striped.

The woman got out of the bed and went over to the door while stretching. She proceeded to open the door and was greeted by a semi blinding light.

"Aww, really? I thought it was supposed to rain…" The girl scratched her head. "...Maybe it did already...Huh, maybe that's why my weather predictions are always off."

The woman shrugged at the thought after thinking about it for a bit. She walked out the room and soon found herself in a short hallway.

The woman walked down the hallway, shielding her eyes from the sun's strong rays that were coming through the windows in the hallway.

Finally, she arrived at another door and opened it, revealing that the room behind the door was a bathroom.

She stepped into the bathroom and then proceeded to do what normal people would do while inside the bathroom. That would be brushing her teeth, washing her face, taking her show, and many other things females do in there (I ain't an expert on the opposite gender, just letting you know that now).

* * *

After spending some time in the bathroom, the lilac-haired girl came out with a towel that was covering her chest all the way to her thighs. She walked back to her bedroom and changed into one of the outfits that were stored in the closet, that being a black and purple parka with blue highlights.

The girl put on a few more accessories, such as a bracelet, a small pouch on her thigh, and two black d-pad hair clips in her hair. The girl took a good long at herself in the mirror of her room before smiling.

"Looks like it's time to start the day, Neptune!" The girl identified herself. "Or at least what's left of the day, that is."

Neptune walked out of her room and made her way down the same hallway again, this time, she took a left at the very end. Before long, the lilac-haired girl had found herself in the kitchen of her home. She looked through the cabinets, most likely in search of food, but found nothing.

"Aww, seriously?" Neptune frowned. "I gotta go over to that place again?"

Neptune sighed because she could already hear her stomach rumbling. The girl began to pat her stomach in an attempt to calm it down. Neptune then opened a drawer in the counter and took out a notepad, there were already things written on most of the pages of the pad. Neptune had also found a pen and scribbled something down before sliding both items into her parka's pocket.

"Hm… I guess that's everything." Neptune looked around once more and walked towards the door. She then sat down and slipped on her shoes. Once they were on, she jumped up, grabbed a messenger bag that was hanging on a nearby coat rack, and opened the door to the outside world. "Hello, world!"

That outside world… was in ruins.

From miles, upon miles, there were destroyed buildings and debris lying around everywhere. All life in the world had looked like it completely disappeared… well except for one thing, and that was Neptune herself. She was the last human that stood in the entire world.

Neptune walked down the steps and towards the gate of her house. Even her own home was in terrible condition, as half of the house was completely missing, while the other half was just in terrible condition.

Neptune took another look around, this time, she was taking in the sight of the world before her that was in ruins. "Ahh, Planeptune… I remember when I used to rule this place." Neptune said. "Oh well, I can reminisce about this place later. I've got stuff to do!"

The girl took out her notepad and checked to see what was on her list of things to do. The list read as followed:

* * *

 **Stuff I Gotta Do or Else I Die~**

1, Find food at mini-mart in the East District

2\. Check those generator thingies

3\. Look for people (optional)

4\. Continue making a path to Lonely Heart's nation

5\. Visit Gia for the week

* * *

"Man, I'm really running out of places to loot for food…" Neptune laughed, although, there was a hint of nervousness in her voice. "I got really work faster on the fourth one… maybe I can skip the third one for today…"

Neptune then shrugged and put the notepad back in her parka's pocket. Although the girl was most likely the last person in the world, she didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that she was alone.

Outside of Neptune's house, was a road that had been cleared of debris. To the left, lead into a bigger part of the nation, while the right was a pitch black tunnel. Neptune walked out the gate and proceeded to make a left and went into the nation.

* * *

As Neptune walked further into the city, the debris that was lying in the road had started to decrease in number, making it easier for Neptune to access certain parts of the nation whenever she needed to.

Finally, Neptune had arrived at a small convenience store that was just a mile or two away from her home. Despite the whole city being in ruins, the only thing that had been destroyed from this store was the glass. The rest of the building had just been worn out from age.

Neptune walked into the store while being careful enough to not scratch herself on any of the shattered glass. Once she was inside the store, she started rummaging through the messenger bag she was carrying and took out a flashlight. The girl turned it on and walked through the store.

"Alright, so whaddya got in store for me today…?" Neptune asked, not expecting anyone to answer her. The girl stopped when she noticed a small shelf of cans that she could've easily missed. "Hm…Soup, carrots, tomatoes… canned bread?! What the Nep?!"

Neptune quickly grabbed the canned bread and examined it from every possible angle with a dumbfounded look on her face. She had never known something like this had existed in the world, yet here it was, in her very hands.

"It still hasn't expired either!" Neptune had checked the expiration date of the bread. "Gee, we sure did make a lot of weird things back in the days, huh?"

Neptune dropped the can into her bag and looked and checked the expiration dates on the other cans she had found. The ones that were expired, she had simply left on the shelf. She picked up one can in particular, and she saw one word:

Eggplant.

The moment Neptune had read the label of the can, she didn't put back on the shelf but instead threw against the wall as hard as she could. This didn't cause all of the contents of the can to explode, but it did make a decent sized dent in the wall.

"... I really should've put a ban on those things when I had the chance." The girl sighed. "Whenever I find them, it's like I'm getting jump scared in a horror movie!" Even when the world has ended and food is practically scarce, Neptune still refuses to eat eggplants...

After looking in the store for a bit longer and finding and taking anything that might be of aid to her, she walked over to the register, placed a few credits on the counter and walked out of the store.

"Food is off the list…" Neptune crossed off the first thing she had written down on her notepad. "Now I've gotta check those things and see if they're working again."

* * *

Neptune headed back towards her house. As she got there, she went over to the side of her home (the side that wasn't completely missing) and walked up to what looked like contraption that only the craziest of people would've put together.

"Doesn't look like they are…" Neptune put her hand on the contraption. "There isn't any water in the storage tank… Wait, doesn't that mean that it didn't rain at all today? Aww man, I was wrong!"

Neptune puffed out her cheeks and walked away from the contraption, upset by the fact that it wasn't working, but even more upset that her own weather prediction was off. While Neptune was walking away, she took out the notepad and crossed off the second thing on the list.

The girl went back into her house and into the kitchen. She proceeded to put all the cans of food she had collected into the cabinet but left one of them out, most likely so she could eat what was inside of it.

After an hour or so, Neptune had finally appeased her stomach that had been barking orders at her ever since she woke up. Neptune took the notepad and pen out of her parka pocket once again and was looking at numbers 3 and 4.

"...Eh, I can do it when I've got free time." Neptune scribbled number 3 off of the list of things needed to do. "I really need to take care of that tunnel… probably by the end of the week."

Neptune got up from the seat she was sitting in and looked around her house for a few items. Once she found everything she needed, she made her way out of her house once again. This time, she took a right instead of a left and went towards the tunnel that was by her home.

Next, to the tunnel entrance, there was a note. Neptune approached the note and took a look at what was written on it. A smirk then grew on her face as she looked into the tunnel. Just from standing outside of the tunnel, it was very easy to see that rubble was blocking some parts of it.

"I can smell Tsundere country just up ahead, I just know it!" Neptune was making an attempt to motivate herself.

The lilac-haired girl then held out both of her hands and closed her eyes. Shortly after, two objects have begun to form in her hands. These objects had turned into swords.

"I just gotta dig deeper, that's all!" Neptune twirled her swords and looked towards the rubble. "Here goes nothing!"

* * *

 **A Few Hours later...**

* * *

"Ugh… I think I might've overdone it today…"

Neptune could be seen sprawled across the ground, panting heavily. She had been hacking and slashing at the rubble that was lying in the tunnel. The girl was at this for a couple of hours and had tired herself out completely because of it.

The girl picked herself up from off of the ground and stretched. Neptune took one long look at the rubble that was blocking her path. She had no way of telling how much progress she was making other than the occasional gut feeling she had whenever she worked in the tunnel.

With that, Neptune made her way out of the tunnel and crossed off the fourth item from her list. There was only one thing left on her to do list. With that in mind, Neptune set off to complete the last task of the day.

* * *

"Evening, Gia!" Neptune skipped into the shrine. "I got here earlier than usual, just so I can spend some more time with ya!"

Neptune skipped over to the grave that was first introduced in the first chapter… wait, but that first chapter was technically in the future. So does that mean that the shrine was never introduced at all or-You know what, fuck it. I don't care. I'm just going to move on with this shit and not give a damn about all of this stuff involving time, it's all confusing!

One thing that wasn't mentioned in the last chapter, was that there was a sword that was stabbed into the ground right in front of the grave. It had a dark aura emanating from it. Neptune approached the grave, and sat down in front of it, while also keeping her distance from the sword.

"Good news, Gia. I think I'm almost in Lastation!" Neptune exclaimed. "As I was digging, I caught a whiff of that scent that we always came across whenever we entered the nation. Remember that?"

Neptune was talking as if she was having a full blown conversation with someone, but no one was there. The only thing that felt like it had a presence was the sword that lied right in front of her.

"You know Gia… Everything feels lighter for some reason…" Neptune said. "Like… I don't have to worry about a lot of things like I used to, but at the same time, there's something constantly makes me want to keep going. You know?"

… Neptune for the first time in awhile was actually expecting someone to respond. That response had never come, Neptune had fallen silent.

"...Who am I kidding… There are times like these when I ask myself…" Neptune's tone of voice had changed. "...Is all of it really worth it? Is living in this God forsaken world really worth all my time and-"

Neptune slapped herself midsentence. She couldn't have believed what she was saying… yet at the same time, she couldn't deny that something was causing her to speak her mind like that. The lilac-haired girl looked up at the sword. Hatred could be seen in her eyes.

"...Anyway, I think I should head back, for now, Gia." Neptune got up from her spot and smiled. "I'll be back next week, okay? I'll see you later, baby sis!"

With that, the girl walked out of the shrine, completely unaware that the sword had flashed a few times while she was leaving.

* * *

After some time, Neptune finally made back to her home. The sun had already set, and it was nearly pitch black outside. The girl stepped into her home and dropped everything. She never even bothered to put back the items that were out of place.

Neptune made her way back to her room while doing so, she was removing her parka and her other accessories. By the time she got back to her room, she was practically in the same outfit she had woken up in… her underwear, for those who need a refresher.

Neptune threw her clothing to the side and her accessories on top of her vanity. Finally, she flopped down into bed as she was greeted by the soft touch of her pillows, and the warm embrace of her blankets.

"Good night… world." Neptune yawned and closed her eyes. "Hopefully, I'll see… you… tomorrow… *snore*"

 _ **Chapter Clear!**_

 _ **A Day in the Life of a former CPU!**_


	3. Chapter 2

"Never easy... struggle... it's all- *snore*"

A young man, who just barely had any blankets covering him, was fast asleep in his bed. They were talking in their sleep… well, more along the lines of sing- Hey, this beginning part is starting to sound familiar… Oh well.

The had an average sized room, though it was in a bit of a mess. There were random articles of clothing lying across the floor, as well as a few other things that won't be mentioned.

"- the sun is out and... time... running..."

The young sleeping man seemed to have had medium length blonde hair with combed out bangs. His skin complexion seemed to be more on the light-skinned side of the spectrum than the pale skinned.

"...AAH!"

The sleeping man ended up rolling out of his bed and falling onto the floor, After lying on the floor for a minute, he lifted his head off the ground and opened his green eyes.

"Did that seriously just happen…?" The man yawned. "I need to get a lower bed… or just stop rolling around so much in my sleep."

The man attempted to get up and off the floor. He was revealed to only be wearing a t-shirt, and sweatpants. Both articles of clothing being a different color, with the shirt being sky blue, and the sweatpants being gray.

As soon as the man successfully got up from the floor, he a heard a song play out through the once silent room. He turned to his nightstand and saw that his phone was ringing. The man quickly reached for his phone and answered the call.

"Hello…?" The man yawned once again as he answered.

"Oh, good. You're awake this time. Looks like I didn't need to break your doorbell this morning." It sounded as if there was a young woman on the other line. "Open the door, I have stuff I need to bring in."

"Aye, Captain…" The young man hanged up the call, not knowing if the woman wanted to say something else before he hung up.

The man stretched his arms and back as he walked over to the door. He opened it and walked out of the room, and into a small dark hallway that had only a few doors.

The man soon approached the front of his house. Before he opened the door, he opened the curtains that were in front of the window to let some light into his previously dark house.

As he opened the curtains, he noticed someone standing outside of his door. It was a young woman who appeared to have long brown hair with blue eyes, and a similar skin complexion to the young man.

The young man noticed that she was tapping her foot, and looked as if she were losing her patience with every passing second. The young man shook his head and made his way towards to door, unlocking both the top and bottom locks before opening it.

"Good morning, doofus…" The young man was still waking up.

"Morning, numbnuts, It's time to start the day!" The young woman stepped into the man's house, and he closed the door behind her. "You sound like you just woke up."

"That's because I just did wake up."

"Wait.. so you haven't brushed your teeth-"

"No."

"Taken a shower-"

"No."

"Eaten anything-"

"No."

"Or found your clothes-"

"No."

The young woman had gone silent, and the man stared at her, waiting patiently for what she was going to say… or do next. Right, when the silence had started to get worrying, the young woman walked behind the man and started to push him down the hall he had come from earlier.

"Hey! Stop pushing me! It's a Monday, I want to take everything slow…" The young man told the woman. "...Hey, are you even- ACK!"

The young woman had pushed the man into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. " **Trenton** , you can't be messing around today out of all days. We have a Technology Expo to go to!"

"Technology Expo…?" The man now identified as Trenton looked down at the floor at the minute and let the words that had come out of the woman's mouth process in his head. "...Holy Shit! You're right! We're going to be late at this rate!"

"Now you get it, numbnuts?!" The woman's voice sounded as if it was getting further away from the door. "Just hurry up and do what you have to do. I'll make breakfast."

Trenton shook his head (Even though it's practically pointless to do so since he was behind a closed door). He then did the regular things guys did while in the bathroom… and no, to that one person who's going to misinterpret that for something else, he's not doing "that".

* * *

Trenton spent close to half an hour inside the bathroom. When he stepped out, he had seemed much more different than he was just before he went into the bathroom. Trenton made his way over to his room and saw a few articles of clothing lying on his bed, one of which was a white lab coat.

Trenton put on all of the clothing that was laid out for him and went over to his vanity. He had a slight beard going, but there wasn't a lot of hair. Trenton opened one of the vanity's drawers and pulled out a cone, in which he used to comb down his bangs until they were smooth.

After Trenton finished combing his hair, he looked around his room to see if he was forgetting to do and/or grab something. Once he finally got everything that he needed, he left his bedroom and closed the door behind him… do I even need to tell you that he won't be stepping back into that room for a long time? No? Okay, good.

"Alright, I've got my shit together!" Trenton entered the kitchen and saw the young woman from earlier cooking something over the stove. "Just make sure that you don't burn this place down, or else you're going to be homeless in a few weeks as well."

"Hardy har har, you're so hilarious…" Even though it sounded like the girl was annoyed, she had a smile on her face. "I called Mr. Schmidt and told him that we'd be running late since someone decided to wake up late."

"Wow, way to rat me out to the guy." Trenton was looking through the kitchen cabinets for something. Eventually, he pulled out two dusty travel mugs. He went over to the sink and started to rinse them off.

"Oh, no. He actually had a feeling this would happen." The young woman said. "You're very predictable, you know that, Trent?"

"Yeah, yeah. That predictable trait of mine is also going to be the end of me one day." Trenton finished rinsing the mugs and was now trying them with a towel.

"Oh come on, be a bit more positive." The young woman turned off the stove and moved the contents of what she was frying into two individual small containers. "Anyway, he's giving us an extra 20 minutes to get there. I don't think I need to remind you of what happens when we're late, do I?"

"I don't think you want to remind yourself." Trenton shivered at the thought and shook his head. "You had a pretty shitty birthday last year because you were working overtime."

"Well, it wasn't that bad." The young woman walked over to Trenton and took one of the mugs. "I mean… you waited for me after all. And your birthday present was so… *sighs* I can't say it. Thinking about it makes me my body all tingly."

"We've been together for 6 years, and you still have trouble talking about those types of topics?" Trenton turned to the woman. "... That just shows how pure-minded you are, **Celia**."

"Oh, shut it you~" Celia playfully punched Trenton in the arm. "Let's save this for later. Onto more important matters-"

"No, I didn't forget to lock my windows."

"And-"

"Yes, I made sure to turn off my space heater."

"Also-"

"I combed out my hair like I usually do."

"Finally-"

"The key to the machine is in my car."

"... Alright! Looks like we're set!" Celia put her hands together and smiled. "This is going a lot quicker than I expected!"

"Do you really think I'm that slow?" Trenton followed Celia out of the kitchen.

"Yes, and in more ways than one~" Celia had stopped in her tracks after she had thought about what she said. Her face had started to turn a bright shade of red.

"Looks like I'm retracting that previous comment about you being pure-minded." Trenton kissed Celia on her forehead. "You're a really dirty girl underneath that cute exterior, aren't ya?"

"Shut up! You're dirtier than me in most cases!"

Trenton and Celia had started to make their way out of the house. The two put on their shoes and jackets went to the door. Trenton opened the door for Celia and took one last look at his house before following Celia out and locking the door behind him.

The couple walked to a blue Sedan that was parked right in front of the house. Trenton once again opened the door for Celia, and once she got in, he closed it and got into the car from the driver's side.

"Okay, where did you say the key was…?" Celia asked Trenton as he got into the car.

"Check under your seat, I put it in a yellow envelope." Trenton started up the vehicle and put on his seatbelt. "I think it was yellow… it was dark when Adam gave it to me."

"Yellow… Yellow…" Celia was feeling under her seat and eventually pulled out a yellow envelope. "Found it! Woah, it's much more… heavier than I expected."

"That's what I said when Adam gave it to me," Trenton said. "He told me that it weighs 60-70 pounds… which is why you should hold it from the bottom to prevent it from falling through the envelope."

"Right…" Celia placed the envelope on her lap and looked at Trenton. The young woman noticed that he was spacing out. "... You want to visit them before we go, do you?"

"Ah… Well, we're already late, and I wouldn't want to drag you to someplace you didn't want to-"

"Don't say that!" Celia shouted, stopping Trenton from finishing his sentence. "Sorry… they were like family to me too, you know. So I wouldn't mind stopping by to pay them a visit... I mean, we are already late after all."

Trenton stared at the steering wheel for some time before looking up and shaking his head. The car eventually started to move forward and away from Trenton's house. Celia watched as the house slowly disappeared from her sight.

* * *

 **(Sometime later…)**

* * *

After driving for quite some time, Trenton had pulled up beside what looked like a cemetery. Celia got out of the car, and then Trenton, who had to lock the car and turn on the alarm.

Trenton offered his arm to Celia, which she gladfully took and wrapped her arms around. The two entered the cemetery and continued walking on the dirt path that was going straight. They then took a turn off of the dirt path and walked onto the grass.

Trenton and Celia eventually came to a stop. In front of them were two gravestones that were directly next to each other, and in between the graves were a row of flowers and a framed picture of three people. Two of them were boys, and the other was a girl. One of the boys in the picture had a similar look to Trenton.

"...Hey **Silver** … Hey **Alex** … I brought Celia with me again." Trenton started speaking. "Sorry I couldn't visit you guys last week, things have been really busy at the facility. Remember that Technology Expo I was telling you guys about? Well, it's today…"

Trenton looked as if he was holding something back, as he was starting to take deep breaths. Eventually, he was back to being calm and looked back down at the graves.

"I told you about the machine that our boss is going to present, right?" Trenton asked. "It was the one where he had built a machine, and said that he would be able to send 6 things to another world."

"It might've sounded like something amazing on paper, but it sounds really stupid when you say it out loud." Celia giggled. "But tonight, he's going to show the whole world that these other worlds exist… and probably embarrass himself on national television… again."

"Heh, yeah… Regardless, I have some faith in the guy. His whole family has been trying to crack the code for generations upon generations. If he suddenly says that he's got it, then… who am I to put him down." Trenton said. "And he wanted me to be his assistant in all of this too! If all of this works out well, then I might be able to get that promotion that I've been waiting to get for all of this time. With that, Celia and I will practically be set for the rest of our lives."

There was a pause after Trenton said that. Celia noticed that he had gone quiet, but didn't decide to do anything just yet. After a minute, Trenton had continued to talk.

"I just… wish you both were here. It's been 6 years since you died... And I still have a hard time accepting it." Trenton said. "I love the both of you very much… I'll see you someday, I'm sure of it."

Trenton's smile from earlier has completely disappeared and was replaced with a frown, which was currently quivering. Celia looked at Trenton and noticed that he was on the verge of crying. The young woman moved her arms from his arm to around his body and hugged him.

"I'm sure you will, Trent… I'm sure we both will." Celia whispered. 'For now, just… stay strong."

"... Yeah, I will." Trenton sniffled. "We should probably… get going now. Any later and I'm sure that our boss is going to forget about that promotion... I'll see you later… I love you both."

With that, the couple took a few steps back and then turned around and walked away from the graves. Memories from years prior started to flood Trenton's mind, but only for a short time. By the time Trenton and Celia got back to the car, they had all disappeared.

"Next stop…. Schizo Corp."

 **Chapter Cleared!**

 **A Part of a Day in the life of an Engineer**


	4. Chapter 3

" _You have arrived at your destination._ " A slightly monotoned feminine voice came from Trenton's phone that sat next to him in a cupholder.

"Thank you, Rei-"

" _Don't forget to rate our app 5 stars if you enjoyed our service_." The monotoned voice interrupted Trenton.

"... Thank you, Reina." Trenton looked and sounded slightly annoyed. The man tried not to acknowledge Celia, who was snickering in the seat right next to him. "I regret ever accepting you as a birthday gift…" He muttered.

Trenton turned off the engine to his car and took out his keys. He got out of the car with Celia, who was holding a yellow envelope that contained a key of some sort. "There's a chance that we're going to get separated as soon as we step inside that building." Trenton was about to lock his car before Celia started talking. "Are you sure there isn't anything you're forgetting?"

"I'm pretty sure I should be asking you that." Trenton dangled his keys right in front of Celia's face. "I'm the one who has the keys to the vehicle here."

"And you're also the one who has lost their keys on multiple occasions and has had them found by me or one of our coworkers." Celia shot back at Trenton, who stopped dangling his keys in front of her face and just stared at her.

"... Yeah, I have everything." Trenton muttered and locked his car. Celia smiled and wrapped her arm around her boyfriend's arm while holding the yellow envelope in the other. "Good."

The two began to make their way to a tall building that was a five-minute walk away from where Trenton had parked his car. Before long, the stopped and looked up at a tall vertical white building. On top of the said building were giant bold letters that spelled, "SCHIZO CORPORATIONS". Trenton and Celia continued looking up and then exchanged looks with one another. Finally, they walked into the building.

* * *

 **(In an Alternate Dimension…)**

* * *

Neptune awoke to hear what sounded like water running from outside her room door, although, the woman wasn't able to register what exactly the sound was since she had just woken up. Instead of going to check the sound, Neptune continued to lie in bed her and stared at the wall.

" _Come on Neptune, it's time to get up!_ " The woman heard a familiar voice and quickly shot up from her bed and looked around the room. To her dismay, there was no one in her room aside from herself.

"W-Wait…T-That v-voice..." Neptune's voice was slightly hoarse. "I could've sworn that I've heard Gia! That was her! That… That was...her…"

Neptune looked down at her blankets and processed the sound that she had heard. The lilac-haired girl gripped her blankets and her body start to shake. "Hey, brain…?" The girl muttered. "Of all the things you can do… Why are ya making me hallucinate?"

The girl never received a response. Once she realized that no one was answering her, she closed her eyes and then hugged and buried her face in her legs. The room soon went silent as Neptune sat on her bed and let her thoughts roam free throughout her head. Eventually, she lifted her head and opened her eyes… which contained no life in them.

"Maybe… Maybe it would be better if I were to-"

Neptune was stopped when she heard a large crashing sound come from outside her room. Life returned to the woman when the crash startled her and caused her to jump out of her bed. "What the Nep?!" Neptune picked herself up and made her way to her door (while still in her underwear nonetheless) and opened it. The lilac-haired girl was shocked to see that her hallway was flooded. The girl watched as all of her personal possessions floated from one end of the hall to the next.

Neptune backed away from her door and quickly threw on her clothes. Once she had put on her clothing and grabbed anything else she thought she needed, she stepped out of her room and closed the door behind her to prevent any water from flooding it.

Neptune moved slowly through the water, she didn't necessarily want her clothing to get wet, yet she had a feeling they would be getting wet regardless. The young woman soon found herself in the main room of her house and looked outside her house through one of her windows… or what was left of one of her windows.

During the night, a storm started brewing and decided to hit Planeptune out of all the places in Gamindustri. The streets were completely flooded and debris from all across the nation was being whisked away by the strong water currents.

"Aww, come on Mother Nature!" Neptune cursed. "Couldn't you have waited a few more months before flooding the whole dang nation?! Moving is a real pain in my behind you know!"

Neptune sighed and grabbed her messenger bag that was hanging on her coat rack, which was already halfway across the room. Neptune then went into her cabinets and grabbed all the cans that were stored in there and shoved them her bag. Next, the young woman ran back to her room and shoved the clothes that were in her closet into her bag. Neptune packed anything else that she thought would be of use before putting on her shoes and running to her front door.

The young woman's front lawn was completely flooded, there wouldn't be any way for her to leave without having to swim and risk being swept away by the strong currents. The girl looked around for a bit and snapped her fingers. Neptune turned and closed her door and took a deep breath, she then jumped and used her doorknob as a bit of a stepping stool to reach the roof of her house.

Neptune climbed onto her roof and immediately noticed that the doorknob had broke, and was now one of the many items that were being carried away by the flood. "Huh… I really didn't expect that to work, to be honest." Neptune watched the doorknob drift away.

The lilac-haired girl looked around her and saw nothing but abandoned buildings and water flooding the city. "Come on, there's gotta be somewhere I can go…" Neptune continued to scan the area until she spotted what looked to be a tower in the distance, however, she frowned upon seeing it. "Err… I'm pretty sure that place is uh… a last resort."

Immediately after Neptune said that lightning came crashing down onto a building that was only a mile away from her. "ALRIGHT! I'LL GO TO THE DANG TOWER!" Neptune shouted. "Geez! You really know how to ruin a person's mood, Mama Nature!"

* * *

 **(A Few Hours later in an Alternate Dimension…)**

* * *

People flooded the hallways of Schizo Corporations, whether they were employees or not. Today was a very important day for Schizo Corporations, and this day was known as many as the Technology Expo, a day where scientists and engineers from all over the world showed off their inventions, shared ideas, and much more.

Trenton had a tough time navigating through the crowded halls and getting to his destination, although this was somewhat normal for him as even on regular days, hallways were still quite packed. What made traversing through the crowds of people even harder for Trenton was the fragile and valuable item he was carrying with him.

Eventually, Trenton managed to escape the crowded hall and dove quickly into a room that had a sign on the door that read "Staff only". The blonde haired man ran into the room and quickly shut the door behind him. It was only a matter of time before he noticed the stares from his fellow co-workers.

"... It's insane out there." Trenton cleared his throat. "If you plan on leaving this room for anything… don't."

Silence followed after Trenton had said what he said, and eventually, his co-workers went back to doing what they were doing before the man had entered the room. After catching his bearings, Trenton started to look around the room.

The blonde haired man didn't necessarily have anything to do, at least that's what he had thought, so he decided to take whatever free time he had and chat with some of his co-workers. After some time, he spotted someone and walked over to them.

"Err… Gabriel?" Trenton walked over to a man who seemed to be younger than Trenton himself. The young man had their head down on their desk and didn't seem to respond to Trenton calling his name. Trenton sighed and began to snap his fingers in front of the young man's face. "Come on, now's not the time to be sleeping, Gabriel."

"Ngh…" Gabriel was somewhat responsive and lifted his head up off the table. The young man's platinum blonde hair was very messy, as strands of his own hair with covering one of his eyes and had found itself inside his mouth. Gabriel looked around the room and then up at Trenton, one thing that was strange was that his eyes were still closed. "Where did all these people come from… Oh, hi Mr. T."

 _ **GABRIEL GARDNER**_

 _ **AGE: Just turned 20**_

 _ **Role: Intern/Failure Analysis**_

 _ **Height: 159 CM (5'2)**_

 _ **Weight: 168.5 lbs**_

 _ **Blood Type: A (+)**_

 _ **Hair Color: Platinum Blonde**_

 _ **Eye Color: Gray?**_

 _ **Likes: Sleeping**_

"Gabriel, I really don't think this is right place or time to take a nap." Trenton scolded the young man. "The presentation begins in about an hour or so, and as a volunteer, you should be getting ready."

"Y-Yeah, sorry about that Mr. T." Gabriel apologized. "I was trying to find a private place so I could get myself ready, but I ended up getting really tired and falling asleep. To be completely honest, I don't even know how I ended up in the conference room… Then again, it was really dark when I wandered in here."

"For the love of God, Gabriel…" Trenton put his fingers on his temple and shook his head. "Listen, I'm not trying to act like I'm your parent or anything, but I think you need to be more organized. You've said you wanted to have a future at this corporation, so you really need to start showing it."

"Yeah, you're right…" Gabriel frowned and looked almost upset, making Trenton feel a little guilty for telling him off the way he did. "I'll start trying harder from now on, Mr. T!"

Trenton was almost surprised by how quickly Gabriel's mood shifted from sad to determined. Despite that, he still felt a little bad and thought that he could've put those words into a nicer tone.

"Ah, Mr. Tamazaki!" Trenton turned his head upon hearing him being called. Gabriel looked as well since he was somewhat curious. The two males saw a short Asian woman approach them with a smile on her face. "Asserting your male dominance, are you? You must be really desperate for a promotion if you are telling Mr. Gardner off, yes?"

"A-Asserting male dominance?" Trenton was taken aback by the woman's choice of words but quickly regained his composure. "Err… Ms. Amanda, I really do think that you need to word your sentences more carefully."

 _ **AMANDA AYUMU**_

 _ **AGE: 21**_

 _ **Role: Software Engineer**_

 _ **Height: 140 cm (4'7)**_

 _ **Weight: 98 lbs**_

 _ **Blood Type: AB (-)**_

 _ **Hair Color: Chestnut Brown**_

 _ **Eye Color: Brown**_

 _ **Likes: Sewing**_

"I-I really do wonder what your tutor is teaching you, Amanda..." Although it didn't seem like it, Gabriel was just as weirded out as Trenton was. "When you say it like that, it almost seems like me and Mr. T are-..." At that exact moment, Gabriel looked up at Trenton.

"Hm?" Amanda kept her same expression but tilted her head to show that she didn't quite understand what Gabriel had meant. "What about you and Mr. Tamazaki?"

"Err… Nevermind." Gabriel looked away from Trenton and buried his face into his arms. "I'm going to take a nap for a few minutes, wake me up when something important happens."

"Have you already forgotten about our conversation-" Trenton stopped once he heard Gabriel's soft snores and let out a frustrated sigh. "Why do I even try…" The man then looked at Amanda, who was looking up at Trenton as if she were waiting for him to say something. "So Amanda… Are you prepared for the presentation?"

"Yep! I am!" Amanda had a determined look on her face. "I've already called my friends to let them know I'll never see them again, my family to let them know I despised each and every one of them, and my lawyers, who will be ready to sue if anything happens to go wrong!"

Trenton stared at the small woman in awe, he had hoped she was joking since she had that same smile on her face. Trenton understood that everyone had their doubts about everything going according to plan, and because of that, they were taking precautionary measures. However, he didn't think that people like Amanda would take it to the extreme.

"Amanda… I sincerely hope that you are joking around, or this has something to do with your bad English." Trenton coughed. "I don't think something like that would be-"

"Oh, Mr. Tamazaki, if you had known me for more than a month…-" At that moment, Amanda grabbed Trenton by the collar of his lab coat and pulled him down to her size. She then proceeded to whisper something into Trenton's ear. "-...Then you should know that everything that comes out of my mouth is the truth and nothing but the truth."

Trenton was so shocked after hearing the words that came out of Amanda's mouth that he almost didn't believe that she was a foreigner from that point forward. Amanda let go of Trenton and walked away to go and talk with her co-workers. Trenton definitely wasn't the type of person who was going to make a scene out of something like this, so all he did was keep his mouth shut and fixed his collar as he watched Amanda walk away.

A few minutes after that event had passed, the door to the conference room had opened. Everyone who was inside the room turned their attention to the door, and standing in front of them was a man who looked to be in his late 50s. Despite his age, he had a fierce aura around him that made some of the employees shudder.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Schmidt." Everyone spoke in complete unison.

 _ **STEFAN SCHMIDT**_

 _ **AGE: 55**_

 _ **Role: Boss**_

 _ **Height: 193.04 cm (6'4)  
Weight: 173 lbs**_

 _ **Blood Type: B (+)**_

 _ **Hair Color: Chalk White**_

 _ **Eye Color: Green**_

 _ **Likes: Orchestrated Music**_

"... Good afternoon, I trust that you are all doing well?" The old man had a ragged, yet wise voice. "There is no need for me to explain what I expect from each and every one of you today, correct?"

"No, sir!" Everyone answered in unison. Stefan surveyed the room and eventually locked eyes with Trenton, who tensed up a bit upon the old man looking at him. He continued to stare at the young man for a few more seconds before smiling and looking away.

"I expect the best and nothing but the best from each and every one of you." Stefan now had a stern look on his face. "There is no room for failure today, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Stefan's employees answered in unison. Even though they were acting obedient and saying what the old man wanted to hear, Stefan knew that their responses were all genuine.

"...Good." Stefan smiled. "The presentation begins in 20 minutes, it's time to get work!"

* * *

 **(An hour later in an Alternate Dimension)**

* * *

After navigating through the flooded streets of Planeptune by jumping on and across rubble, Neptune was eventually able to make it into her destination with little to no injuries. The woman looked up at the building, which appeared to be a tower of some sort and frowned. "...Come on Neptune, you just gotta stay here until all the flooding is done and over with, it'll be over in no time!" After giving herself a bit of a pep talk as well as a few soft slaps to the face, Neptune was ready.

The lilac-haired girl saw a blocked window, and since the actual entrance to the tower was submerged underwater, she didn't really have much of a choice but to enter through there. The girl took a few steps back before running and leaping towards the window. The girl used all her strength to break through the window, and fortunately, it was enough. Neptune successfully broke through the window and landed in what looked to be an entrance hall.

The woman picked herself up off the ground and noticed that she was bleeding a bit, she figured that it was because of the broken glass. "Eh, I'll just deal with it later… It's not like it'll be a big deal if they get infected."

Neptune began to make her way down the entrance hall, she didn't really care much for the condition the hall was in, as she just kept looking ahead while walking. Eventually, the lilac-haired girl found a long flight of stairs at the very end of the hall and began to climb it.

As Neptune climbed the stairs, the sound of the water currents got more and more intense. The girl was starting to feel uneasy, she didn't know what to expect once she reached the top of the stairs, and it would worry her that she would see something that she wouldn't want to see.

Eventually, Neptune reached the top and took a short break due to how long it took. Once Neptune regained her stamina, she was met with a door. The girl looked at the door for what she felt like was hours, but was really only minutes. The lilac-haired woman subconsciously placed her hand on the doorknob and with extreme hesitation, she twisted and pushed open the door.

"Neptune..."

* * *

 **(40 minutes later in an Alternate Dimension)**

* * *

In just 40 minutes, everyone inside Schizo Corp went from roaming the halls or waiting inside staff only rooms, to one giant auditorium. A total of at least 500 people were inside the room, waiting for the presentation to begin.

Trenton, along with the staff members of Schizo Corporations were in a backroom that was behind the main stage. The man watched as his co-workers around him prepared themselves both physically and mentally for what was about to happen.

As Trenton was looking around, he soon noticed that there was someone beside him. That person was none other than Celia, who was offering him a water bottle.

 _ **CELIA COLLAZO**_

 _ **AGE: 24**_

 _ **Role: Robotics Engineer**_

 _ **Height: 162.56 cm (5'4)**_

 _ **Weight: 113 lbs**_

 _ **Blood Type: A (-)**_

 _ **Hair Color: Chocolate Brown**_

 _ **Eye color: Dark Brown**_

 _ **Likes: Dancing**_

"Thank you." Trenton took the bottle from his fiancée and started to drink from it. "The atmosphere is really tense, huh… "

"Well, when an event you've been anticipating for an entire year comes along and your boss tells you that there's no room for mistakes, it's only natural to start feeling anxious," Celia told her fiancée. "And if I'm to be honest, I'm a little uneasy too…"

"What is there to worry about?" Trenton turned to Celia. "Celia, you and I are apart of the team that built the machine, so you should know that the worst thing that can happen is that it just doesn't start up at all."

"I know, but… that's not what I'm actually worried about." Celia started to play with her hair, and while it may seem like nothing to most people, Trenton knew that whenever she started to do that, there was something that was seriously bothering her. "You see-"

Right when Celia was about to tell Trenton, the door to the back room swung open. With the atmosphere being tense, the door swinging open had made everyone jump. Standing in the doorway was a man who looked to be in his early 30s with a lollipop in his mouth.

"Everyone! Adam and Mr. Schmidt are ready to start the presentation!" The man was also very loud, the tone and volume of his voice were starting to make people agitated.

"... Jakob… What the Hell is your deal?" One of the staff members asked.

 _ **JAKOB JEON**_

 _ **AGE: 32**_

 _ **Role: Manager/Quality Engineer**_

 _ **Height: 185.42 cm (6'1)**_

 _ **Weight: 198 lbs**_

 _ **Blood Type: AB (+)**_

 _ **Hair Color: Coal Black**_

 _ **Eye Color: Sky Blue**_

 _ **Likes: Sweets**_

"There's no time to be asking if there's something's wrong with me or not, we've got things to do people!" While Jakob was loud, he certainly was able to get the point across very quickly… albeit, it wasn't hard to understand what he was saying at all. "To all the people who are volunteering, I think it would be wise if you put on your suits right now."

With that out of the way, Jakob quickly left the room. Everyone had mixed emotions about what had just happened but decided to suck it up and started to exit the room one by one. "I still don't understand how or why Jakob is the way he is." Celia shook her head. "How did he get his position again?"

"Along with Adam, he was exclusively chosen by Mr. Schmidt to lead this branch of Schizo Corp. I know he doesn't look like it, but I guess he was chosen for a reason." Trenton didn't quite get why Jakob was the way he was either, but he decided that he wasn't going to think about something that was pretty pointless. "Anyway, what were you saying, Cel?"

"Oh, right. Um…" Celia thought about for a minute, eventually, she stood up from her seat and took a deep breath. "On second thought, I'll tell you later. You're going to be Adam's assistant during the presentation, right? If I were you, I'd get going."

Trenton really wanted to press his fiancée on the matter, but there was no point in doing so if she said she would tell him later. Trenton got up as well. "Alright, if you say so."

Before leaving the room, Trenton took a look around to see if anyone was around. To his surprise, him and Celia were the last ones to leave. Trenton turned to Celia and gave her a kiss on the lips. "How ballsy of you," Celia said with a smile as their lips parted. "Listen, you're going to be up on the stage with all of those machines, so please be careful. If something were to happen then-"

"Don't worry, I'll be extra careful and observant of everything while I'm up on stage," Trenton reassured the woman. "Just sit back and enjoy the show, you'll have a front-row seat after all."

"Oh, I'll have a front-row seat alright..." Celia emphasized her words, which made Trenton slightly curious, but he didn't think too much into it. "Don't worry about me, just go on ahead to the stage. I have something I need to do before I can go."

Trenton shook his head and exited the room, not looking back at Celia who now had a distressed look on her face.

The man made his way to the stage, but not before taking a peek out into the crowd and seeing the number of people that were sitting there, waiting for the presentation to begin. Looking at all the people in the crowd caused the butterflies in the blonde haired man's stomach awaken.

"I pray that we don't fuck up…" Trenton muttered and took a deep breath. "People already have their doubts, so if we make any mistakes, or this thing doesn't work like it's supposed to, our reputation is as good as done."

After he finished his soliloquy, the lights in the room had started to dim as if on cue. Trenton took this as a sign to hurry over to the side of the stage and await his signal. As the man approached the stage, he saw someone on the opposite side of the stage walk up the steps and head towards the center where the microphone was. The one trait that stood out about them the most was their neon purple hair.

As this person was walking onto the stage, everyone in the crowd was conversing with one another. Some were excited about what was about to happen, while others had their doubts and had thought about leaving before it had even begun. Once the man reached the center of the stage and grabbed the microphone, he cleared his throat. The entire room had gone silent.

" _Someone sure is an expert at getting the attention of 500+ people…_ " Trenton thought to himself. " _It's almost as if he's done this before._ "

The room remained silent for a few minutes. The man simply took a look around the room, he was observing each and every person that was in the crowd. Each and every person in the room was waiting for him to say something.

"... 521…" The man finally spoke. "There are 521 of you in this room. Each and every one of you has come here for a different reason."

There was a bit of whispering in the crowd, however, it quickly died down. The man continued.

"At least 272 people here are excited for the events that are about to take place in this very room. At least 212 of you could care less about what happens and believe that this is a waste of your time. At least 38 people here don't know whether they should leave, or stay." Everyone was charmed and taken in by the man's words. "But no matter what happens today… No matter if we succeed… No matter if we fail… All 521 of you will never forget the historical accomplishments that will be made in this room. My name is **Adam Achter** , and welcome to Schizo Corporation."

* * *

 **(In an Alternate Dimension)**

* * *

Neptune stood in the doorway of the room. From the looks of it, the door had led her to a living area. There was a large tattered couch that sat in front of a broken TV that had fallen off its stand. The walls also appeared to have holes in it, and broken glass was spread across the carpet flooring.

The lilac-haired girl's body once again acted on its own and she started to move. The girl went from the living area to what seemed to be a kitchen. All the glassware such as cups and plates were broken, as well as a variety of pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils.

" _Heya, Gia! Whatcha making?_ " The moment Neptune heard a voice, her head snapped towards its source. To her surprise, she saw what looked to be a much younger version of herself with another girl who shared similar features to Neptune. " _Whatever it is, it smells really good!_ "

" _Oh, Neptune! I'm not really making anything special. I was just following this tutorial on how to make this really sweet dish, but I don't think it's going too well…"_

" _Whaddya mean it's not going too well? I smelled the dang thing when I was taking a shower! And you already know that if I can smell something from 30 feet away, then it has to be good!"_

" _Oh, I don't know. I'm only on the 6th step out of 40 and I'm already lost on what to do."_

" _Well, that's why your big sis is here, Gia! If we do this together, then I'm sure that even the famous Baking Mama won't stand a chance against us!"_

" _I-I don't know, I wouldn't want to bother you-"_

" _That's a load baloney, Gia! I've always got time to spare whenever it comes to my adorable little sister!"_

" _N-Neptune…"_

Neptune watched as the figures disappeared and the kitchen returned back to its normal destroyed state. The lilac-haired woman showed no emotion in her face. Eventually, her body did its own thing once again and started to move on its own.

The next thing Neptune knew, she found herself inside a bathroom. The giant mirror that stood behind the sink was missing a huge chunk, but it wasn't entirely broken. There were also various hair care products, as well as soap and shampoos scattered across the ground.

" _Gia, what's the point in even doing your hair? You trying to get some guys to pick you up, cause I'm sure that will happen regardless."_ Neptune began to hear voices again, she was also able to see the same two figures that were in the kitchen in the mirror's reflection.

" _No, its nothing like that, Neptune. I just want to look presentable when we go out in public, that's all."_

" _Bah! Who cares about looking presentable in public? This our nation for crying out loud! We can roam the streets in our underwear if we want to!"_

" _I-I wouldn't want to do something like that at all! Do you know how embarrassing it would be?!"_

" _I know, I know, tis a joke, my darling little sister… Hey, you've got a bit of hair poking out on the side."_

" _I know, it's been like that for weeks. I've tried all I could, but it just doesn't want to stay down…"_

" _Hm… Ooh, I know! How about we use a crap ton of shampoo and see if it'll do something about that little rebel?"_

" _I don't think I've tried that before… But that would require me to take off all my clothes, and I already showered today-"_

" _Nope, too bad~! You're stripping!"_

" _G-Gah! Neptune, don't b-be so rough!"_

" _While I'm at it, let's see how much these puppies have grown~"_

" _W-Wait, this feels really wrong! N-Neptune, stop! Neptune!"_

The figures disappeared once again, leaving Neptune, who was looking at her reflection in the mirror. The girl's eyes had returned to the lifeless state that they were in earlier. Neptune once again went on autopilot and walked out of the bathroom.

The lilac-haired girl soon found herself outside of a door, which had had a sign looked to have been written by little children. As Neptune was reaching for the doorknob, a part of her that still had control had caused her to stop. The girl noticed that her hand was starting to shake, and eventually, she was able to successfully pull her hand away. Neptune looked up at the sign once more before walking away.

Neptune found herself back in the room she had first arrived in. As she stepped into the room-

"Neptune…"

The woman hesitated, but she eventually tracked the voice. It didn't take long though, as the person who called out to her was standing on the other side of the room, looking at her. It was… Gia. The girl was standing where there would usually be a giant window that gave anyone who looked through it, a clear view of the whole nation.

Gia took a couple steps back, which caused Neptune to flinch. Eventually, Gia had backed up so far that she was no longer in the tower, but outside. Instead of falling, however, she seemed to have been walking on nothing.

"Neptune… Come with me." Gia held out her hand. "We can be with our friends again… We can be with Histoire, IF, and Compa again… We can be together again."

…

…

…

Neptune took one step… And then another… And another. The girl didn't care anymore, she didn't try to fight with her body to regain control.

…

…

…

All she wanted was for the pain to stop.

 **Chapter Cleared…**

 **Differentiating Perspectives**


	5. Chapter 4

**(Mere minutes later in an Alternate Dimension)**

* * *

 _ **ADAM ACHTER**_

 _ **AGE: 26**_

 _ **Role: Lead (Mechanical) Engineer**_

 _ **Height: 182.88 cm (6'0)**_

 _ **Weight: 149 lbs**_

 _ **Blood Type: O (+)**_

 _ **Hair Color: Neón Purple**_

 _ **Eye Color: Sapphire Blue**_

 _ **Likes: Writing**_

The entire crowd exploded with applause, it didn't matter if they were apart of the percentage who wasn't looking forward to the presentation, or apart of the ones who were. The crowd felt as if that it was an excellent way to start.

" _... I'm having a hard time understanding what just happened…"_ Tamazaki has looked very confused. _"Did he really study each every person's face in this room, or was that just a shot in the dark? This guy is so unpredictable…"_

"Thank you, you're all too kind." Adam bowed before continuing his speech. "As I just said, what you are about to witness will be history. For decades-... no, for centuries, the talk about worlds different from our own has always been a topic amongst many. Despite that, no one has dared to question if these worlds actually exist. No one and I'm absolutely certain that NO ONE has done any research to confirm whether these alternate worlds exist and if they did, no one has even tried to figure out a way to communicate or travel between these worlds… At least, not until today.

People in the audience exchanged looks with one another and then looked back at Adam. Meanwhile, one of the engineers took this as a sign and pulled out a switch from their lab coat and flipped it. As he did, a hole in the floor started open, and what rose out of the hole looked to be some kind of futuristic machine.

"This machine right here is known as a GASCJA Pad. It's only a prototype, which explains why it's so small in size." Adam told the crowd. "The device is powered by "Phatonas", a type of energy source that is used to power Schizo Corp machinery and only Schizo Corp machinery. It can not be used with anything else, or it will explode."

People who were bummed out about not being to use Phatonas for their own machinery were now okay with not being able to use it. " _It's not going to blow up, Adam. You just don't like sharing with others, that's all."_ Trenton had a bit of a smirk on his face.

"This energy source was made from Photon energy, and from various chemicals that we were able to extract from a meteor that fallen several years ago." As Adam said that, Trenton had felt… something. He didn't know what, or why, but it was clear that it had to do with what the man had just said. Regardless, the blonde-haired individual shrugged it off and continued listening to Adam. "But Phatonas is a story for another day, I know fully well that you didn't come here to hear me ramble on about some new element."

Adam then proceeded to reach into his lab coat and pulled out an unbitten shiny red apple. The man dusted it off and showed to everyone in the crowd. The purple haired man then proceeded to place the apple onto the pad and took a few steps back. "Now, you see that this apple has been completely untouched, right?" At the very same moment, Adam took out a button. "Well, that will all change with a push of this button. I ask that you all watch closely.

Without any hesitation, Adam pressed the button. At first, it seemed like nothing was going to happen, but then the lights began to flicker for a few seconds. Eventually, the GASCJA Pad began to make a loud noise that made it seem like a large fan was turned on somewhere close by. The crowd watched in awe as the machine started to spark, eventually, the machine shot a laser at the apple and caused it to vanish into thin air.

Everyone was almost speechless and had a hard time processing what they just saw with their own two eyes. The number of skeptical people in the crowd had significantly dropped. Adam watched the people in the audience speculate with one another, he simply remained silent and smiled.

" _Wait for it…"_

At that very moment, the lights started to flicker once again. Everyone immediately looked back towards the stage and saw that the machine was sparking once again. The machine had eventually fired another laser that had begun to morph into something… Something that had caused the crowd to go into an uproar.

What sat on the GASCJA Pad was an apple. This very apple had shared the same features as the one that was previously on the pad…. Aside from one thing. It didn't matter where you stood in the auditorium, you could clearly see that the apple was missing a large chunk, but not just any chunk, a large bite-sized chunk.

"Ladies and Gentleman…" Adam walked back over to the pad and picked up the apple and held up high for all to see. "This… This right here is what marks the future."

The audience had practically lost all their composure and the whole auditorium went into total chaos. There were screams and shouts from every corner of the room, which were followed by a massive round of applause. Adam soon found himself being bombarded with questions. Most of these were questions that he could answer such as, "How long did this take" and "What else can be transported", while others were a bit more… surprising, and he ignored.

" _Well I'll be damned, the prototype actually worked… Not as if I didn't know that already."_ Trenton sighed. " _He still has yet to drop the nuke and cause everyone to actually lose their shit and go insane."_

Once Adam believed that most of the people in the audience calmed down, he started to talk again. "Some of you may have your doubts, but I believe that if you think about it long enough, you'll be able to come to the conclusion that this isn't fake," Adam said. "This apple was sent to another world, and was in the hands of a living being who was about to have a snack… Unfortunately, they weren't able to finish… Maybe I should send it back."

Adam was able to get most of the audience to laugh at his joke, while the others who didn't laugh believed that he was being serious and was actually waiting for him to put the apple back on the pad.

"Now, everyone here just witnessed an apple get sent to another world. Most of you would say that this very moment would count as a historical accomplishment, correct?" Adam had heard the majority of the audience say yes. "Well to all of you who said yes… You're wrong. You see… In my opinion, I don't think of this as a historical accomplishment until we're able to send, oh, I don't know… humans to other worlds?"

The whole audience had already known where Adam was going with this and they were starting to get excited and loud. Adam looked to the far left corner of the room and shook his head at one of his co-workers, who also had replied with a headshake of their own, followed by a press of another button they had on them.

At that moment, 7 more holes had opened up in the ground, although, they were much bigger than the one the GASCJA Pad had emerged from. Large metal boxes had then started to arise from the holes, each box being a different size.

" _There they are."_ The blonde haired man crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. " _And so, the real show begins._ "

"These metal boxes that stand behind me are called GASCJA Chambers. It should be fairly obvious that these chambers are basically the same as the GASCJA Pad. The only difference is that they're obviously bigger." Adam had begun to pace around the stage while looking into the audience. "If I'm to be honest, the GASCJA Pad has already been completed for a little over 10 years now. We just didn't have access to Phatonas until recently, which is what these machines obviously require to work."

Adam continued to pace around for a bit and then stopped and looked up at the ceiling. The man then looked back down and turned to the audience once again. "These chambers only took two years to complete. They weren't difficult to make by any means, we just kept on running into obstacles that made the development take much longer than we had hoped."

" _I wish I knew why Adam is trying to butter these people up, he's already sold almost everyone in the room._ " As Trenton was thinking that, he took a look out into the crowd and saw that the entire audience was so absorbed with Adam's presentation that it almost seemed like they weren't breathing. _"If anything, you're just stalling for unnecessary time. I'm pretty sure all of the volunteers are ready… Well, aside from one."_

"Moving on from the development process, you can see that there are 7 GASCJA Chambers up on stage. 7 of Schizo Corporation's very own engineers have volunteered to be the first to test our GASCJA Chambers." Adam then proceeded to turn his head to the side of the stage and stared at someone who stood next to a set of doors and gave them what looked to be a signal. "Would these brave volunteers please come up to the stage?"

The doors that were right by the person Adam had signaled opened, and in an orderly line walked in a group of 6 individuals wearing white suits that share similarities to that of a Spacesuit. As they walked in, the audience had given a loud (perhaps even louder than earlier) round of a applause for them. They stopped walking once they reached the side of the stage and awaited further instructions.

"I will now proceed to call the names of each of the Candidates. When you hear your name, please proceed onto the stage." Adam cleared his throat. "Gabriel Gardner."

Gabriel walked onto the stage while trying to contain his big goofy smile. As he walked past Trenton, he noticed the man give him a thumbs up as he walked by and smiled back while mouthing the words, "Thank you, Mr. T". Gabriel stood behind Adam on stage.

"Amanda Ayumu."

Amanda made her way onto the stage while also smiling, although she wasn't bothering to hide it like Gabriel. As Amanda walked past Trenton, the girl gave him the sign of the cross motion, all Trenton could do was stare at her in disbelief as she passed by. Amanda walked onto the stage and stood next to Gabriel.

"Jakob Jeon."

Jakob wasn't originally paying attention and didn't even realize that he was being called until the person who stood behind him nudged him. Jakob made his way onto the stage and walked past Trenton, who had just facepalmed. Jakob walked onto the stage and stood next to Amanda.

"Neku-" As Adam was about to call out the next name, one of his assistants motioned him from the bottom of the stage. Adam got down onto his knees, and his assistant whispered something into his ear. Trenton raised an eyebrow, as he didn't quite understand what was going on. Adam shook his head and got back up on his feet. "It seems as if one of our original volunteers was unable to make it today. Fortunately, someone else volunteered to be a substitute for a volunteer! Would you come onto the stage, Celia Collazo?"

The moment the name had been said, Trenton's heart had skipped a beat. The man's head slowly turned and saw a familiar brown-haired woman walk up the steps and head onto the stage. It was none other than his fiancee Celia. As she walked past him, she looked at him with a face full of worry. Even though none of them had said anything, they could tell what the other was thinking.

" _What the fuck?!_ " It was Trenton who obviously thought this.

" _I'm sorry, it was something that happened last minute! We'll talk about it later!"_

Celia walked past her now worried fiancee, and onto the stage and stood next to Jakob. "And finally… our very own boss himself, Stefan Schmidt."

The old man took his time making it onto the stage, not because he was old, but simply because he wanted to take it slow. As the old man was walking past Trenton, he noticed that the young man looked paler than usual. Stefan gave the young man a pat on the back, which had startled Trenton, and walked onto the stage and stood next to Celia.

"These individuals are willing to risk their lives for the greater good. Could you please give them a round of applause for their bravery?"

The audience erupted with cheers and applauded. The volunteers could only smile as the crowd gave them love and support. After a minute or two, the cheers had died down and the auditorium was quiet again… Well, somewhat. A few people were whispering to each other, they had confused looks on their face.

"...I can tell that some of you haven't exactly figured it out yet. Everyone here sees that there are 6 volunteers on this stage, yet there are 7 chambers. Where might the 7th volunteer be?" At that exact moment, Adam grabbed his lab coat at practically ripped it off. The few people in the crowd who were whispering were surprised to see that Adam was also wearing a suit that looked identical to the ones that the other volunteers were wearing. "Well, the answer's simple really. I'm the 7th volunteer."

" _...Showoff._ " Trenton was tempted to actually say that and see if anyone would hear him. " _Well, whatever. Looks like I'm practically up._ " Trenton reached into his lab coat and took out a large yellow envelope. He opened said enveloped and reached into it, pulling out a giant mechanism that had the characteristics of a key that you'd usually see on wind-up toys.

"If all goes well, the seven of us will be traveling to another world, where I pray that everything is safe." Adam sounded nervous, but his co-workers knew that he was only faking it. "I am unsure how long we will be gone, as the flow of time may differ in the alternate world than in this world. However, when we do return… I expect a party of some sort."

The audience laughed, meanwhile, Trenton and his co-workers were unsure if he was actually telling a joke or not, as he looked somewhat serious when he said that. It was now time for each of the volunteers to enter into their chambers. Adam looked directly at Trenton and snapped his fingers, basically telling him to hurry up.

Trenton nodded and waited for everyone to step inside the chamber. Once all the volunteers were in, the man finally walked onto the stage and began to close each of the chambers, he gave each of his co-workers a nod as the doors closed.

As he was closing Celia's chamber, he had started to hesitate. "(I'm going to be okay…)" Trenton heard Celia whisper to him. "(Just trust me, everything is going to work out fine.)

"(...Okay, just… please be safe.)" Trenton whispered back and she responded with a nod. Trenton finally was able to close her door and moved onto the final one, which had belonged to Adam. "(Are you absolutely sure that this is going to work?)"

"(I'm positive. After all, have any of my inventions failed?)" Trenton really wanted to tell him, yes, but he was right, so he couldn't. In all his time of working there, Trenton has never seen any of Adam's projects fail."(Remember, all you need to do is put-)"

"(Yeah, yeah. Toggle the physics motor, disable the R94 protocol, and start up the RED-I program and immediately hit enter as soon as it turns pink.)" Trenton had sounded slightly annoyed when he said that and closed Adam's door. "(You've probably already forgotten the number of times you've told me this.)"

With that, Adam's door had closed, making all the GASCJA Chambers officially shut. Trenton turned to the crowd and suddenly got nervous after realizing how many eyes were on him. "Ladies and gentlemen, in the events that something goes wrong, I suggest that everyone within the first four rows move to the back." Trenton thought about what he said. "... On second thought, make it the first five. Splash damage is a thing that exists."

The audience did what they were told and everyone who sat in the first five rows moved to the back of the auditorium, although they were a little upset that they didn't get to see everything up close. Trenton made his way to a console that sat on the far end of the stage and booted it up. The man proceeded to do the exact same steps that he had repeated to Adam. "And… Enter!"

Everything had gone quiet, and it wasn't just the entire room or building, but to Trenton, it felt like the entire world had suddenly gone silent. The lights had begun to flicker as they did with GASCJA Pad when it started to work. The audience had begun to get a little excited and started to get a tad bit jumpy, but they were, fortunately, able to keep their mouths shut.

" _Holy shit, it's actually working!_ " Trenton himself seemed surprised. " _Now all it has to do is spark and-_ "

…

…

…

It stopped.

The GASCJA Chambers were making loud "whirring" noises while Trenton was at the console. To the man's knowledge, they were even making these sounds as Adam had brought them up from under the stage. Usually, the whirring sound meant that the machines were working and they were ready to be used at any time.

The whirring noises, however… had just suddenly stopped. Trenton's eyes had widened as he stared at the chambers in disbelief. "W-What…?" Trenton was so surprised and shocked by the results that he didn't even realize that he was thinking out loud. "I-I-It… It was supposed to work!"

The silence in the room had left, and that was due to Trenton's outburst. Everyone in the audience was looking around and asking questions to the staff members, who were just as confused as they were. The man quickly checked the console and looked for any problems.

"Let's see here… Uhh…" The man had also taken out a notepad from his pocket and flipped through it. While the blonde-haired engineer was trying to fix the problem, the other engineers and security guards were trying their best to tame the crowd and prevent them from getting any closer to the stage. "Wait… What the Hell is all of this?"

"-this part was for Gabriel…"

"-this part was for Amanda…"

"-this part was for Mr. Schmidt…"

"-this part was for Cel…"

"-this part was for Adam"

Trenton was having a hard time understanding or even hearing what he was saying, as everyone in the audience was too loud. The man couldn't even hear himself think. "I just don't get it! How could this have happened?! Everything was-"

Trenton had stopped talking as he had come to a realization. A realization that was so big that his already pale skin had gotten 10x paler and he had begun to shake. The blonde haired man slowly turned his head to the side of the stage and stared directly something.

… And that's when it happened.

The lights had started to flicker once again, only this time, it was much wilder than before. Trenton looked from side to side, not really knowing what was going on, or what to do. He then looked down at the console and saw that the screen was flashing a multitude of colors. The man let everything that was happening process in his head. From the screams of the civilians, news reporters, and other scientists in the audience, to the flickering lights and the flashing console, Trenton was finally able to piece together everything that was happening.

…

…

…

…

…

…

"EVERYBODY GET OUT OF HERE, RIGHT NOW! GET OUT BEFORE YOU-"

Despite his efforts to warn everyone… It was too late.

 **Chapter Cleared…**

 **A Fatal Mistake**


	6. Chapter 5

"NEPPU!"

Neptune shot up from her bed and had started to hyperventilate. The woman frantically looked around, wondering where she was and how she had gotten there. It took her a bit, but once she realized that she was actually in her room, she had started to calm down.

"I-I-I-I thought I… I saw her. I saw Gia…" Neptune was stuttering, and even though she sort of knew she was having a nightmare, the lilac-haired woman couldn't stop taking short breaths. "W-W-Why? Why is this h-h-happening to me? I didn't do anything wrong, right? So why do these things keep happening?! What did I do to deserve this?!"

… Neptune had already known that no matter how loud she shouted, or how much noise she had made, there would be no one to give her any kind of response. Neptune grabbed her pillow and had begun to hug it since it was the only thing that came close to giving her any sort of comfort in the world she lived in.

Neptune was eventually able to stop her panic attack from developing any further and sat up on her bed in silence. The girl was thinking about the nightmare she had just had and was having trouble believing that it was all in her head. "Those bruises I had… The whole nation being flooded underwater… Me reaching out Gia…" Neptune had looked very distressed and only squeezed her pillow more. "It all seemed so real…"

The moved her blankets off of her and inspected her body. To her dismay, her body was completely unscathed, there were no signs of damage anywhere. This had only made the girl more upset and frustrated. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to go… This place is breaking me down faster than I'm able to complete a game of BETRIS."

The girl thought about her joke for a bit and started to chuckle, even if it wasn't that funny. Neptune knew that even though she had matured a lot, her ability to make references in the form of jokes was something that would always be apart of her.

"I should probably go do something and get my mind off of things…If that's even possible." Neptune had gotten out of bed her bed and prepared to start her day. As she was about to step out of her room, she noticed something weird. "... Wait a second…"

Neptune gently opened the door, but instead of being blinded by a bright light, she was greeted by the exact opposite. The entire hallway was shrouded in darkness, the only light that was present had come from the lamp in Neptune's room, and something that came from the main room.

"Looks like I woke up a bit too early." The woman deducted. "Meh, it's not like it matters. If anything, I got more time to do stuff today!" With that in mind, Neptune continued to get ready to start her day.

Once the girl had finished showering and putting on her clothes, she walked into the main room of her house. Neptune looked around for a bit, but she couldn't seem to identify the source of the light. The girl had then realized that the light that was in the room, wasn't actually coming from inside the room, but from outside of her house.

Neptune poked her head out of her window and saw that the moon was shining brightly, albeit a little too bright. The lilac-haired girl hadn't noticed however and had thought that it looked extra pretty. Neptune never really stayed up too late, even though there wasn't really any reason for her to turn in so early. Because of this, Neptune usually never sees how the nation looks during the late hours of the night.

"Ooh, pretty!" In any case, Neptune was glad that she was able to see the moon so clearly and bask in its glory…For about two seconds that is."Okay, onto more important stuff."

The girl closed her window, even though there wasn't much of a point considering half of her house was missing and the half that wasn't could collapse at any moment. The lilac-haired girl was about to reach for her cabinet to open it, but stopped. "... Nah, I think I'll skip breakfast today." She pulled her hand away from the cabinet and instead reached for her notepad that was in her drawer, as well as something to write with.

"Now, what should I do today…?" The girl took a walk around the room, thinking about what to add to her list. "Aside from the usual stuff, I think I can add a few more things onto the pile since it's early and all."

Neptune thought about it for some time, yet she still couldn't come up with anything. The girl started to flip through the pages of her notepad, seeing if she could use any of the optional tasks she had given herself and add it to the pile. In the end, Neptune had only found one thing, but she didn't really think it would be a good use of her time.

"Look for people." The girl read what she had written out loud. Once again, she thought that it would simply just be a waste of her time and energy, although time wasn't really that important, she knew that her energy was. The girl was really debating whether she should keep this on her list or not. "*sigh* I don't really see the point in doing this anymore, but fine." In the end, Neptune had given in and decided to leave it on her list."

Once Neptune had done everything she had needed to do, she grabbed her bag, slipped on her shoes, and left her house. Even though half of the house was missing, Neptune had still decided to go through the door.

The young woman went to the back of her house to check on the contraption that she used to check whether it would rain or not. Once she had was that it was empty, the girl continued on to her next task.

As Neptune had gone around and did what she needed to do, the moon had begun to disappear and the sun had begun to rise over the horizon. Neptune never really noticed the sun though since she was too preoccupied with what was on her list to do list.

"Phew, that takes care of most of the difficult stuff I've been really lazy to do!" Neptune wiped her forehead and marked off one of the last few things that were on the list. "Seriously, I'm the last person alive and I still decide to procrastinate! I guess these old habits of mine will never die, huh?"

Neptune soon noticed that there were only two things left on her list, and as soon as she was about to read what they were. "YOWCH!" Something that had looked to have fallen from the sky hit the woman on the head and landed in her hands. "Ah, geez! What the Nep was that?!"

Neptune looked around, trying to see if she could identify what had hit her on the head. The girl didn't realize that the very item that had done the deed was sitting in her palms as she had done so. Finally, Neptune had looked at her hands and gasped. "W-W-What the heck?

Sitting in the palm of Neptune's hands was what appeared to be a shiny red apple. The young woman stared at the fruit in awe and looked around once again and then at the apple, just to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. To her surprise, she wasn't and the apple had continued to sit in her palms.

"H-Holy cow…" Neptune was having trouble finding words. It had been such a long time since she had seen fruit, but to be more specific fresh fruit. Most of the food items she had found when scavenging were unfortunately spoiled. "Where did this thing even come from."

Neptune once again looked around, but not because she believed the apple was going to disappear, but because she was a bit skeptical. Even if it was Neptune, she was smart of enough to know that fruit falling from the sky as the apple did wasn't normal in the slightest.

"But more importantly…" Neptune now had a big goofy smile on her face as she turned back to apple. "How come I haven't devoured you whole yet?!"

It's been at least 5 hours since Neptune woke up, and she had decided to skip breakfast. It was only natural that the girl was hungry, and even if she wasn't going to have a full course meal, she could at least have something small to hold her over for a little while longer. Neptune rose the apple up to her mouth and took a bite out of it. It was the first time in a long while she had eaten something that was not only sweet but a physical substance that she could hold in her hand.

"Mmh~!" Neptune had savored that bite and imprinted its memory into her mind and taste buds (somehow). "This is so good~! Hey, wait a second…" It seemed as if Neptune just had an epiphany. "Apples have seeds, so if I take the seeds out of this apple, then… *gasps* Holy moly, I might never have to eat anything that comes out of a can ever again!"

While Neptune was celebrating, she didn't realize that the apple had started to disintegrate into pixels. "Alright, time to finish this baby off and harvest all the-" As Neptune had turned back to the apple, the last pixel had disappeared and her hands were empty. Neptune stared at the palm of her hand for what seemed like minutes. The girl seemed more upset than surprised.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!" Neptune shouted up into the sky. "WHY CAN'T I EVER HAVE NICE THINGS IN LIFE?! AAAAAAAAA-"

It took her some time, but Neptune had eventually calmed down. The young woman took a few deep breaths to make sure that any unnecessary was out of her system. After that, she had started to think a little more rationally. "Wait… Where did the Apple go?!" Neptune looked around, she was seeing if she had somehow dropped the apple on the ground while she was talking to herself. "It's not around here, and it's not like there are any holes that it could've fallen into or places it could have rolled behind!"

Just to be sure, Neptune checked the entire area to see if the apple was still around. Once she confirmed that the apple wasn't in the area, her mind had started to formulate several kinds of outcomes. None of these added up, unfortunately… at least, that wasn't until she had seen her notepad on the ground. At that moment, something had sparked in her head, something that made her freeze.

"...Hello?! Is anybody there?!" Without any sort of indication, Neptune had taken off in a random direction. "If anyone's there, just holler back at me, okay?!" The woman had left her notepad on the ground, and on it were only two tasks left that she had yet to complete. One of them had read, "Work on tunnel" and the other, "Search for people (might skip this one after all)"

Neptune ran around the entire nation shouting things out as loud as she could. While the girl had begun to do this, the sky had started to change color. It changed into a dark purple color, despite it still being daytime and nowhere close to the evening hours. Neptune hadn't realized since she was too busy calling out to any potential survivors that were in the nation.

"Come on, say something!" Fatigue was beginning to catch up to Neptune and she had stopped to take a breather. The girl looked around and noticed that she was in a slightly unfamiliar part of the nation. Neptune knew Planeptune like the back of her pillow, the only reason why this part of the nation was unfamiliar to her was simply because she hadn't traveled to that part a lot. "Marco…?"

There was no response. Neptune stood there idly and looked down at her feet. "I knew it was too good to be true…" Neptune muttered before she stared up at the sky and sighed. "Why would anyone else be here? That's just silly… and if there was someone else here, they definitely wouldn't show themselves to me… A monster."

Something had begun to change inside the young woman, although she didn't really feel it. Even if Neptune had felt the change, she wouldn't really know how to describe it. This change in the girl was none other than her-

"Wait... What's up with the sky?" Neptune had finally noticed that the sky had changed from clear blue color to a sinister purple instead. At the same time, the change in the woman had come to a stop. "The last time the sky turned this dark was when that-"

"*THUD*"

Neptune stopped talking and continued to stare up into the sky, only this time, she had a bit of a shocked expression on her face. The girl continued like this for about a minute or so before had eventually fallen onto her knees. The top half of her body had followed after moments after and Neptune passed out.

".̶̛̟̬̝͇̟̣͒̈́͒̅̓͝ͅ.̶̡̛̮̺̼͔͇̈́̀̍̈̚ͅ.̸̡̨̱̳̘̀̅́̈́̚̚͜ͅ **Ŏ̵̥̥͖̰̹̞̝̀̇̒̀͐̾ǘ̷͖̗̖͍̤͍̍͛̀̕͜͝r̵̰̞̙̼̘͕̮̈́̈́̋̓͛̌͝ ̷̢̣̫̙̼̼̒̅̿͛̇̒͋͜f̵͇̯̟̣̬̼͂͋̋̀͒̕͜͝u̷̧̜̘͓̟͎̪̍͆́̈́̓̓̓t̶̢͉͇͇̙͕͈̆̃̀͋̿̂͠ŭ̶̗̺̱͈̳̞͉͛͋͌̆̌ȑ̸͕̖̳͖̣̹̔͑͛̿̈́é̴̗̯͍̬̖̹̆̑́͘͝ͅ ̷̢͈̞̻̱̳͚̐̈́̌́̆̆͗b̷͇̼͉͔̦̀̑͊́́͝ͅe̵͉̣̫͍̟͓͑̓͑̈́̊͠͝ġ̵̡͙͙̗̗̭͕̈̓̈́̚̚î̵̬̼͉̤̟̙̿̈́͗͊̎͘n̴̨̺̭̩͓̮͇̒̀̄̒̂͆̕ş̷̛͉͔͔̟̮̮́̓̄̅͒̒ ̴̣̫̰͉̗̬͉͐̌̋͗͗͂̅h̴̪̞͇̖͕͓̣̔̽̇̈́̊͝e̶͚̲̹͚̲͎̮͋̈̈͌̄̄͛r̶̰̦͔̰̰̥̎̓̌̃̅͗͠ͅȩ̷̲̫̱̰̩͓̉̈̑͛̉̾͝.̷̡̧̛̛̤̻̭͔͕̈́̒͌͆͠.̵͈̩̭̲̖̜̈̽́̂̀̈ͅ**.̸̧̥͍͙̖͍̠̍̄͗̌̉͂̍"


	7. Chapter 6

"AAAH!"

Trenton woke up in cold sweat. The man sat up quickly and placed his hand on his chest and tried his best to calm himself down. He didn't exactly know what caused him to wake up like that, but he knew that having a panic attack wouldn't help him come any closer to figuring it out.

Trenton soon found himself breathing at a steady pace and took a deep breath, the young man had then immediately found himself in another predicament, one that would guarantee him another panic attack. "W-Wait… Where am I?"

Trenton had found himself in a dimly lit room. From what the man was able to make out, it almost seemed like he was in some underground cellar. An indescribable smell lingered through the air, and the cellar seemed as if it had been left unoccupied for years since there looked to be moss and vines growing on the wall.

The blonde haired man got up from the cold hard ground and stretched out his limbs. Most of his body was aching, but he figured that it was because he was lying down on the cold hard ground. As Trenton took a step, he felt something trip him up. "W-Woah!" The man fell directly onto his face and laid on the ground for a few minutes. "Thaf hurth…"

Trenton slowly rose and turned his head. To the man's surprise, both of his feet were individually weighed down by two separate iron balls and chains. "What the crap?" The man turned onto his back and sat up. "Why are my feet chained to these things?" Trenton scratched his head and stared down at the shackles. Thankfully, there seemed to be keyholes, which had meant that a key had to exist somewhere.

The blonde haired man looked around the room again to check to see if there were any keys lying around. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to spot anything in the room, and it didn't help that the room had terrible lighting.

"It looks like I don't really have a lot of options here…" The man looked conflicted and didn't seem to know what to do next. After thinking about it for a bit, he snapped his fingers. "Oh wait! Someone definitely had to put these chains on me, which means that there has to be a person close by!"

With that realization, Trenton quickly stood up and cleared his throat. "HEY! IS ANYONE HERE? THERE'S SOMEONE DOWN HERE!" With all his might, Trenton screamed out in the hopes of getting someone's attention. "HELLO? IS ANYBODY UP THERE? I'M STUCK AND CAN'T GET OUT BY MYSELF!"

Trenton's throat had begun to hurt, so he decided that he would stop screaming for the time being. The blonde haired man listened closely for any sort of noises that came from outside the cellar, but unfortunately, he wasn't able to hear anything.

Trenton sighed and sat against the wall. The man had a few more ideas in his mind that he could try, but he had become exhausted from all the screaming he had been doing. Before he did anything else, he wanted to take a bit of a breather.

"Somebody has to know I'm down here, right? Someone will come for me eventually, I just know it." Trenton was trying his best to be optimistic, but he knew that there was a large chance that he was alone or he was being ignored on purpose. "If it really comes down to it, then I can try getting out of here myself."

Trenton looked at the shackles that were around his ankles and tugged on the chains. The shackles were very tight around his ankles, and the iron balls did seem pretty heavy, but after tugging at the chain for a bit, the iron balls moved towards him. "Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard." Trenton let go of the chain. "If anything, I could always carry one of these iron balls and let the other one drag behind me… Yeah, that should definitely work!"

Trenton had seemed proud of his idea and smiled, although he didn't really understand why he was smiling at something anyone could've come up with, he still believed that he achieved something and that's all that really mattered to him.

As the man was taking a breather, he had started thinking about a few things that had popped into his head. Most of these were questions he was asking himself, while others were just ideas he was coming up with in the event that something had gone wrong.

"Wait…" Something had donned upon the man. Out of the many questions he had, there was one that was bothering him the most. He desperately searched his mind for an answer, but he wasn't able to find one. The man had thought that it had something to do with him waking up. "... Yeah, that has to be it! I'm sure I'll remember later."

After coming to that conclusion, the man got up from the hard floor and decided to test out his idea. Trenton kneeled down and lifted one of the metal balls, and left the other one on the floor. With the ball and chain in his hands, he stood up straight and began to walk. At first, Trenton had started to trip up due to the ball and chain that was around his other ankle, but he was soon able to balance it. Trenton was now slowly making his way across the room and towards a flight of stairs. He never really expected this to work, but he was glad that it did.

Trenton stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up. From where he was standing, the man could identify what looked to be a wooden door at the top of the stairs. It would normally take a person a few seconds to climb up a set of stairs, but in Trenton's case, it was certainly going to take a little longer.

"I can already tell that this is going to be a nightmare…" Trenton took a deep breath. "But it's better than staying down here for who knows how long." With that in mind, Trenton took his first step up the flight of stairs. Since he was still at the bottom, it wasn't necessarily bad. Matter of fact, the first 5 or so steps were easy for Trenton. But as he went up the 6th step, he had almost fallen on his face.

Trenton looked back and saw that the ball and chain that he hadn't picked up, was now on the first step. Since Trenton was going up, it made it harder for him to move his other foot onto the next step. The man had thought about picking up the other ball and carrying it as well, but his arms were beginning to get tired from carrying one iron ball alone.

Trenton looked at how far he needed to go, and to his surprise, he was close to the top. Unfortunately, he didn't know if he would reach his destination considering the condition he was in. There was a huge chance that Trenton would end up tripping and falling down the flight of stairs, which would mean that he would have to start over again, or he would die. The blonde haired man didn't want to take a risk at all and tried thinking of a solution to his problem.

"... This is a crazy idea." Trenton had another idea spring into his mind and thought about it some more. "It's so crazy that… I think that it'll actually work!"

Trenton looked towards the top and checked to see how many more steps it would take him. After calculating something in his head, he smirked. " _I'll let my ideas blossom into my success!_ "

* * *

 _Trenton took a few deep breaths and tossed the iron ball up in the air for a bit. It looked as if he was trying to get a feel for how heavy the ball really was. The man soon stopped tossing the ball in the air, and knelt down and tugged on the chain of the iron ball that was all the way down the stairs. Since he was only tugging on it with one hand, it didn't really budge that much and stayed where it was._

 _It was time for Trenton to put his plan into action. The man looked to the top of the stairs and took a deep breath. He would then proceed to launch the iron ball that was already in his hand into the air. While the ball was flying through the air, Trenton grabbed the chain of the other iron ball and yanked it into his direction with all his strength. The iron ball that Trenton was carrying previously had landed at the top of the stairs but was at the very edge. The iron ball that was at the bottom was making a beeline straight towards Trenton, who was just barely able to catch it once it got close enough._

 _Even though Trenton had caught the iron ball, it didn't stay in his hands for too long after that. Once he had regained his composure from catching the iron ball, the man launched the ball towards the top of the stairs, but instead of waiting for something to happen, he ran up the stairs as fast he could. The moment the man reached the top, was the moment the first ball and chain was about to tumble back down to the very bottom. Fortunately, Trenton had made it in the nick of time and was able to catch it before it fell._

* * *

"... Wait, what just-" It had suddenly dawned upon the man that he was now at the top of the stairs. The entire plan that he had formulated in his head in such a short time had worked, although it was a very risky considering that his head could've gotten smashed at any given second, or he could've lost his footing, but- "I-It actually worked! Oh my God!" -that wasn't what was important right now.

Trenton was giving himself a pat on the back for coming up with such a risky and most likely unnecessary plan. The man had almost forgotten the entire reason he had formulated that plan, to begin with. Trenton snapped his fingers after suddenly remembering and looked towards the wooden door. The man grabbed one of the iron balls and walked up to the door. The man couldn't really sense much of anything behind this door, which was something that had worried him.

" _Well, would you rather stay down here by yourself?_ " Trenton asked himself. " _There's nothing you have to worry about, just open the door and everything will be fine. Okay?"_

Once he had finished reassuring himself, the man placed his hands on the doorknob. There was no fear in his body, and he was just trying his best to keep an open mind. Without any further hesitation, Trenton twisted the doorknob and gently opened the door…

"What the crap?"

When Trenton pushed open the door, he had expected to be outside somewhere or at least in some sort of house. To his surprise, it looked like he was in none of those places, and had found himself in the sewers. The smell from earlier was much stronger there than in the cellar, it was so strong that the blonde haired man had almost thrown up.

"This place is freaking awful…" Trenton gagged and covered his nose and mouth. It wasn't as dark as it was as in the cellar Trenton had found himself in, but it wasn't much better. There were two paths that Trenton could take, but one of them seemed to have been blocked off by what looked to be rubble. " _Looks like I'm only left with one option…_ "

With only one way to go, Trenton had started to walk down the path. As he progressed, the smell had started to fade away and the area around him had gotten brighter. The blonde haired man soon found himself in a big open area. Trenton noticed that the amount of rubble in this area, in particular, had increased drastically, as well as the junk that happened to be lying on the floor.

" _What happened here?_ " Trenton walked further in and took in his surroundings. " _This place looks like it has seen better days… Well actually, I don't think it did. I'm standing in a sewer after all, and I'm pretty sure that those things aren't the cleanest in the world, so-_ "

"Ah, you've finally awakened, sir."

Trenton's put his conversation with himself to a halt once he had heard a voice. The voice sounded as if it belonged to a man since it sounded deep and ragged with a hint of wisdom to it. Trenton searched for the source of the voice, but to his surprise, he didn't need to look long since a man was standing at the far side of the room and staring at him.

"Oh, thank GOD! Another person is here!" Trenton in a friendly tone of voice. "I thought that I might've been the only person here, glad to see that I was wrong."

As Trenton talked, the man had begun to slowly make his way towards the young man. Trenton didn't really pay any mind to this and continued to talk to the other man.

"This place is an absolute nightmare, I had a hard time getting up those stairs that lead up here." Trenton thought back to the event that took place not even 10 minutes ago and shuddered. "Speaking of which, why exactly was I down in that cellar? And what's with these iron balls and chains on me?"

Trenton was now somewhat aware that the man was getting a lot closer to him. The young man was now able to get a good look at him now that he was a closeup. The other man appeared to be in his mid-50s and had chalk-white hair and green eyes. Trenton was impressed by the man's physique. Even if he was nearing his 60s, he still looked pretty strong and could probably crush a watermelon.

"Oh, and you also called me "sir", right?" Trenton continued to talk, not really understanding the importance of the situation that he was in. "Since you called me that, does that actually mean that you-"

"You aren't him."

…

…

…

"Huh?"

"I said: You aren't him." The old man was standing over the young blonde haired man. It was at this time that Trenton noticed how tall the old man really was and started to feel uncomfortable. "I mistook you for someone much with a lot more power and authority… You on the hand, are just a dirty rat that was meant to die down in that cellar."

"E-Excuse me?" Trenton now felt like he was in danger and had started to take a few steps back, but to his dismay, the old man had begun to follow after him at the same pace. "What are you talking? D-Did I do something wrong? Because of that's the case, then I should probably mention that-"

" **SILENCE!** " The old man rose his right hand in a way as if he were about to slash at something.

"AAAH!"

Trenton instinctively rose the iron ball up to his face and closed his eyes, as he did, the old man made a slashing motion with his hand. At first, it seemed like nothing happened, and even Trenton himself was confused.

"CLANK!"

The young man opened his eyes and saw that the chain that was attached to the iron ball he was holding had been separated from the ball itself. At first, he was amazed and relieved, but those positive emotions soon faded away once he had realized that half of the iron ball was now on the floor, while the other half was in his hands. The young's man jaw dropped.

"U-U-Uh...W-W-W-Wha-..." Trenton was completely speechless as he continued to look at the ground, and then at his hands. Finally, the man looked up at the person who had done the deed and saw that the same serious look on their face. "H-H-How… W-W-W-What…"

"Hmph, it still seems like your immunity hasn't worn off just yet." The old man turned his back on Trenton and took a few steps forward. "Which means I'll have to find other methods of hurting you."

The old man snapped his fingers after finishing his sentence. The ground had begun to shook for a minute as if an earthquake were happening. Little did Trenton know that this wouldn't be the case at all.

The young man continued to look around, not knowing what was about to happen. The young man had started to hear banging come from one of the walls at the far end of the room. The banging only got louder and louder.

" _I already know that this is going to be something bad… But please, please God, don't let it be something spits fire."_

The banging then came to a sudden stop. Trenton had a feeling that it had stopped on purpose, just so it could give him some sort of false sense of security, so the man kept his guard up. The waiting time got longer and longer, it had gotten so long that Trenton had actually thought that he was just imagining the whole thing, and let his guard down.

As if on cue, a giant creature broke through the wall and let out an ear-piercing screech that had practically given Trenton a heart attack. This said creature landed behind the old man and glared at the young man. The monster appeared to be very scaly and had wings that were almost a big as the room that they were in. It also had razor sharp teeth and nails that could tear through anything that it desired.

There was also one more thing about the creature that truly made it something to be afraid of, at least to Trenton...

…

…

…

It was something that spits fire.


	8. Chapter 7

"What… The Hell is that thing?!"

What stood behind the old man was a beast that had shared many similarities to that of a dragon, yet there was something strange about it that prevented it from being classified as that.

The beast radiated a fierce aura that was exactly identical to the one the old man had surrounding him. Trenton knew that this beast was bloodthirsty from the moment it had broken through those walls and was probably going to stop at nothing until Trenton was dead.

" **Will it even matter if I told what this creature was?** " The moment the old man had spoke, Trenton had noticed an immediate change in his voice. His voice had sounded a lot deeper than it was originally, and there was now an echo that had followed after every word he had said. " **This will be your first and last time seeing it after all.** "

"O-Oh, really now?" Trenton might've been a tad bit oblivious earlier, but he knew what the old man had meant. "Well on second thought, I think it might be better if I didn't know what it was."

The beast roared loudly and shook the entire room. Trenton covered his ears and noticed that the old man had vanished into thin air. The blonde haired man didn't really care about where he had gone off to, especially since he was trying to kill him. Trenton was more focused on the monster that had stood in front of him.

" _I need to get out of here, I'm definitely not fighting whatever that thing is!"_ The young man automatically looked over at the giant hole in the wall that the creature had made during its entrance. " _I found my exit, now I just need to get there without-_ OH MY GOD!"

While Trenton was thinking of a way, the creature had been charging up a beam of sorts. By the time Trenton had realized what was going on, the beast had finished and was about to fire it. "I gotta move!" Trenton was about ready to break into a full sprint, but as soon as he had started to run, he tripped on something and fell onto his face again. " _I forgot about the other chain!_ "

The beast saw this as an opportunity to strike and fired multiple vertical pillars of fire at Trenton. The young man was just barely able to avoid the first pillar of fire, as it was able to burn a bit of his lab coat off. Trenton grabbed the iron ball and got up from the floor and ran towards the hole in the wall. "Come on, come on, almost there…!" The young man was running as fast as he could, but even though he was carrying the iron ball, he still felt like he being restricted in some way.

The beast screeched once again and caused the whole room to shake violently. Trenton slightly turned his head and tripped again when he was that the monster was now up in the air was about to divebomb into him. "How is this fair?! Give me a chance to at least-"

Trenton never got to finish his sentence before the monster had made a beeline straight towards him. The blonde haired man soon realized that the adrenaline in his body had kicked in, causing him to zoom out of the way right as the creature had crashed into the ground. The shockwave was so strong, that the rubble and junk that were lying in the room had gone flying everywhere, Trenton himself wasn't an exception to this rule.

"AAAAAAAHHHhhhhh…" Trenton had begun to scream but had stopped once he had realized something. "Hey… I'm outside!" The shockwave had actually helped Trenton instead of screwing him since it had launched out of the hole in the wall. "HAH! Suck it, you huge overgrown toe-ACK!"

As he was spitting insults, he had failed to realize that he was still flying through the air. Once gravity had caught up with him, the young man had fallen and began to roll down a hill that was littered with hazardous objects such as glass, broken pipes, spikes, and much more.

"OW! OOF! FUCK! OUCH!" Trenton rolled down the hill, hitting most of the objects that were in his way. After what seemed to be going forever without any end, Trenton had reached the bottom of the hill. His lab coat, as well as the clothing he wore under, were in bad condition. He also many scraps and bruises on his face, chest, and legs, yet it seemed like his arms were fine. "Ugh… Did the rolling stop?"

Trenton got up from the floor, only to immediately fall back down again. After trying a few more times, Trenton was able to keep his balance and stand on his own two feet. The young man placed his hand on his head and looked back up the hill, only to lock eyes with- "...Oh, hi there."

The creature poked its head out from the hole in the building that was on top of the hill. It had begun to growl at Trenton before pulling its head back in and disappearing from the man's sight. Trenton, on the other hand, knew that the monster was far from finished, and was about to bring down the entire building before coming after him. The young man looked around and noticed that he was in a grassy field that had strange structures that seemed to have been out of place.

While those things had caught briefly caught the man's attention, he had noticed something a lot bigger in the distance. "Those buildings over there… That must be a city! Maybe I can find someone or something there that will help me deal with this thing!"

And so, Trenton had started to make his way to the city. To his dismay, the chain to the iron ball didn't break when he was rolling down the cliff, so he was left with a bit of weight. Trenton could hear the monster roar. Once the young man was a good enough distance, he could hear the monster screech from where he was, signifying that he needed to pick up the pace.

* * *

"Ah… Geez, that really hurt…" A familiar lilac-haired girl had started to wake up from her slumber. Neptune had felt very dizzy once she had woken up, along with a sharp pain that she felt in the back of her head. The woman placed her hand on the spot where the pain was and winced. "OW! Alright, who's the funny guy who thought I was a Pocketed Monstrosity and threw a ball at me? Cause jokes on you pal, I had full hp!"

Neptune looked around, not for a person, but for the very thing that had knocked her out. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to find anything that may have done the deed and gave up. "Eh, whatever." Neptune didn't feel as dizzy as she was moments earlier, so she got up from the floor. The girl was a little shaky in her legs but was still able to balance herself. "How long was I out for anyway?" Neptune looked up into the sky, but instead of seeing the sun, she saw the sky, which had turned into a dark purple color. "What… the…?"

In all her time of being the last person in Gamindustri, this was the first time in a long time she had noticed the sky turn into a different color. There was something unsettling and ominous about it, but the lilac-haired girl couldn't really figure out what it was. "Things are starting to get REALLY weird around here…" Neptune seemed slightly uncomfortable. "I should probably get home like… now."

Neptune had only taken 2 steps forward before she stopping. The young woman had felt something hard underneath her shoe and lifted it up and looked down. Lying on the ground underneath her foot, was what seemed to be a notebook that had Planeptune's symbol on the front cover. Even though Neptune had just stepped on it, the notebook had looked to be in mint condition.

"Ooh! What do we have here?" Neptune kneeled down to pick up the book and got back up again. The woman observed the front and back cover and saw that the notebook seemed to be completely fine. "Kinda looks like a diary… Eh, I don't think the owner would mind if I looked inside it, right? It's not like their secrets matter anymore."

After that uncalled for comment, Neptune opened the book and began to flip through the pages. To her surprise, it seemed like the notebook really didn't belong to anyone since the pages were all empty. "Wow, and I got my hopes up for a second. Oh well, looks like some random person's secrets are safe…for now." Neptune gave the notebook a once over before closing it and slipping it into her messenger bag. "Oh well, at least I've got a replacement for that notepad of mine. It was running out of pages, so the timing is perfect!"

Neptune never even questioned where the book had come from, she just accepted it for what it was and moved on. The lilac-haired girl was completely unaware of the notebook's true origins and how it had actually come to be.

"Alright, now back to-"

" **SSCCCRRREEEEEEE** -"

"KYAH!"

Neptune was cut short when she had heard a loud ear screeching sound throughout the entire nation. The young girl covered her ear, and that was just barely enough to block out the terrible deafening noise. "WHAT THE NEP IS THAT?!" Neptune shouted as the screeching went on. "WHO'S GRINDING THEIR NAILS ON THE DANG CHALKBOARD?!"

The screeching had soon came to a stop, but Neptune kept her ears covered for a little while longer. Once the girl was absolutely sure that the screeching had stopped, she moved her hands from her ears and looked around. "I'm like really lost right now, did I miss some important dialogue on my way over here? Why's all this weird stuff suddenly happening?"

Neptune was now expecting answers from something or someone. Even though nothing was giving her a response, she knew that something was up. The young woman knew fully well that she wasn't dreaming or having hallucinations. "Hey! I know I already tried this, but you better come out and show yourself!" Neptune was debating in her head whether to summon her weapons or now. "I already know that you're here, so just come on out already!

…

…

…

"CRASH!"

"NEPPU!"

As if it were planned, another loud sound entered into Neptune's ears and was followed by the ground shaking. Neptune had lost her balance and fell but was, fortunately, able to stop her head from hitting the ground. "From crying out loud, Mother Nature! Is it that time of the month for you or something? Why are you being pissy all of the sudden?!"

Neptune soon noticed a large cloud of smoke rise up from somewhere that wasn't too far from her current location. The young girl stood up slowly as she watched the smoke cloud rise up into the sky. Without thinking or making any type of comment, Neptune bolted towards the smoke cloud.

* * *

"*Cough* *Cough*" Trenton had started to cough up blood as his vision had started to return to him. The man looked around and noticed that he was lying in a pile of rubble in the middle of the street.

As Trenton was running towards the city in the distance, the creature who he was running from had finally decided to chase after him. Unfortunately for Trenton, it didn't matter how far he had run. The beast was able to reach and block his path in under 10 seconds.

Trenton had soon found himself in a pretty difficult situation. The man couldn't fight since he didn't have any sort of weapon on him, and he couldn't exactly run in another direction since the creature would cut him off no matter where he had gone.

While he was thinking of something, the monster had lunged at him. Trenton had proceeded to act on instinct and swung at him with the iron ball that had, fortunately, hit him… but unfortunately got caught in his mouth.

The monster had then proceeded to spin Trenton around until the ball had broken off the chain and sent the man flying into the city. The monster realized what had just happened and took a deep breath before letting out another screech and going after Trenton.

"T-There's no time to be lying around…!" Trenton had a very hard time getting up from the rubble. To the blonde haired man, it had felt like his bones were broken and made it incredibly hard to move his body. After enough trial and error, Trenton was able to pick himself up off the ground and had started running through the city

As Trenton ran, he had noticed that the city had looked as if it were abandoned. The man didn't see a single person as he ran. Trenton had also failed to realize that he was no longer restricted by any weights, and was able to move freely without any restrictions.

" _Where is everyone?!_ " The man continued asked as he kept on running through the city. " _There's not a person in sight!_ "

Trenton stopped to take a deep breath and check on the location of the beast that was after him. Half of him was expecting the monster to be standing on top of one of the buildings and staring down at him, but that, fortunately, wasn't the case. The creature was nowhere to be seen, but Trenton still knew that he was after him and would eventually find his location.

" _God, this isn't looking good at all…"_ The blonde haired man had started to break into another sprint with a visible look of frustration on his face. " _What am I going to do? Is there really no one here? Am I actually fucked? This… This isn't right! I'm about to die and I still don't-_ SHIT!"

"NEPPU!"

* * *

…

…

…

Trenton lied down on the floor, face first in the cement. The young man had slowly picked himself from up off the ground and felt the pain rush to his head.

Neptune lied down on the floor face first in the cement. The young woman had slowly picked herself from up off the ground and felt the pain rush to her head.

"Ow…" Both of them placed their hands on their head and rubbed the spot that they had both felt pain in.

The two of them had felt like something was off and stopped rubbing their heads. There was a long pause between their last action and the next. Something was telling both of them to turn around, and without any hesitation, Neptune and Trenton had both begun to turn their bodies.

…

… They continued…

...

… And continued…

…

… Until finally, they stopped…

…

… And met each other's gazes.

 **Chapter Cleared…**

 **Two Sides of the Same Coin**


End file.
